Soul Link
by aiyumi
Summary: Touko loses her will after a tragic event in the final battle. Reshiram takes it upon herself to lift the hero's spirits, but there's a problem: Touko doesn't trust her. So what to do? Ask for Mew's help. Rated T for a character death, Spiritual for character rebirth and other craziness.
1. Finding Resolve

A/n: some things before we start:

This story will contain a character death, then sort of a character rebirth and other crazy stuff (it's rated T and in the "Spiritual" category for a reason). if you don't like this kind of thing, don't read!

Now, the other little problems:

I have some visual limitations, so scene descriptions may be a bit lacking. Also, English is not my primary language, and I'm sure that there'll be mistakes. If you find something, please let me know.

Okay, on to the story!

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 1: Finding Resolve

Touko ran aimlessly, lost in the maze that was Team Plasma's Castle. Tired, she stopped in the middle of a corridor and began talking alone.

"Why? Why does it has to be me? I wanted to help stop Team Plasma, so I collected the eight badges and came to the Pokemon League, but it's too late. It's over. N defeated Mister Alder, the Champion. What a normal trainer like me is supposed to be able to do?"

"What're you talking about? You just defeated the Elite Four, didn't you? Didn't you?" someone said. "Yes, you did. Most 'normal' trainers don't come even close. Anyway, there should be something that only **you** can do."

But Touko didn't hear anything, nor knew that it wasn't the first time that it happened.

"I know that this is meaningless. Then why am I still here?"

"Because you want to know more. Why Team Plasma say they're giving their all to help pokemon, yet they try to separate pokemon from people that are obviously happy together. Why, despite understanding pokemon words, N fails to see that humans and pokemon can coexist peacefully. If this is Team Plasma's secret base, then something tells me that the answers for these questions are all in this castle. If you're still here, perhaps it's because you think the same. I know that you can't hear me, so, theoretically, talking alone here is 'meaningless' as well. But I won't give up, I'll insist until you notice something. You should do the same. Don't give up. Go talk to N, and insist until you get your words across to him. It looks like he considers you 'special', so maybe he would listen to you."

As expected, Touko heard nothing.

"From that day, if I knew that it would come to this, I wonder what I'd have done..."

She finally found a set of stairs, but instead of climbing, she sat on a step, lost in thought. Slowly she began recalling various events throughout her travels.

X:X:X:X:X

At fourteen years of age, Touko, together with her friends Cheren and Bel, got a starter pokemon from Professor Juniper and left their hometown of Nuvema. After arriving at Accumula Town and resting at the Pokemon Center there, the three were preparing to leave when there was a commotion outside, which turned out to be a speech from Ghetsis of team plasma, saying that his group wanted to help pokemon to live better. He said that everyone had to release their pokemon because trainers were unconsciously enslaving then and making them suffer. Just after it ended and everyone was processing what they had just heard, Touko met N. He said strange things, implying that he could understand pokemon, and she thought he was crazy. On another day, she saw him coming out of the Striaton City Gym, talking alone and saying that he wanted to see a new future for pokemon. She practically avoided getting near him that time. Her opinion about him only started to change when she saved a wild Munna that was being abused by members of Team Plasma (which contradicted themselves about being against pokemon abuse), and helped Professor Fennel with a research about Dream Mist, a substance produced by Munna and its evolution Musharna, and its influence on dreams. As thanks, the professor let Touko be part of the very small group allowed to test the results. Using some pillows containing Dream Mist and monitor chips specially made for the research, Touko dreamed about Takimaru, her Oshawott. They were sitting near some trees, quietly admiring the scenery. Suddenly...

"There's a bug on your hair."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" she squealed and quickly ran her hand through her hair to shoo the bug (not a pokemon, a normal insect) away.

"I didn't think you were so scared of bugs..."

"Aaaah!" she widened her eyes and exclaimed in surprise. "No, that's not it... Y you... You... You spoke!"

"Huh? ... Ah!" The realization finally hit the Oshawott, who was taken aback for a moment. "Oh! You understood me! You heard my exact words!"

"Yeah, I did."

"Interesting. So it seems there aren't communication barriers in the dreams."

Touko chuckled. "You talk a little too... Formal for your size. I didn't think you were so serious. You kind of remind me of Cheren... But yeah, it's nice to understand exactly what you're saying, not just guess..." She stopped speaking abruptly and remained silent for a moment, suddenly lost in thought. "Takimaru?"

"What's it?"

"Does... Does N really understand pokemon?"

"Yes. I had no problems communicating with him."

"Oh. So maybe that's why he's a little weird... I mean, it must be difficult for us who don't understand pokemon to follow his line of thought, because we only know one side of the conversation."

The Oshawott nodded.

"Ah... Ah... You're here..."

"Huh?" Touko heard a faint voice behind her.

"Touko, look. She's that Munna from before."

"Yes... Thank you for saving me! After that, Musharna called me to talk. She said that it would be good if I went with you. She wants you to train me and make me strong, so I can protect myself if something happens again... I... I hope nothing happens... But..." The pink pokemon shuddered remembering what had happened. "Anyway... I was looking for you but you weren't there anymore, so I tracked your dream and came here! I don't know if I can do anything useful... I'm really bad at fighting... But can I come with you?"

"Of course!" Touko answered. "But can you speak louder?"

"Even louder? She's nervous and speaking frantically. It's loud enough."

"Really? ..." Touko continued after thinking a little. "Hmm... Yeah, it looks like she's speaking loudly, but I only hear a very faint voice, like when listening to the TV and the volume's low."

"Strange..." The Oshawott tried to think about a logical explanation while Touko talked to their newest ally.

* * *

After they woke up, Touko talked to Takimaru, who nodded to her questions, confirming that he had the same dream and they could communicate in dreams. Before leaving the city, she went to the Dreamyard to pick the Munna, who she nicknamed Monica.

* * *

After that, Touko had various encounters with Team Plasma. In every one of them, they kept contradicting their own philosophy by stealing trainers' pokemon, showing that they weren't the "benefactors" that Ghetsis said they were. In Castelia City, They stole Bel's Munna. With help from the gym leader Burg and a girl named Iris (who much later would reveal that she was the eight gym leader), Touko tracked down one of Team Plasma's hideouts, a building that was actually near the gym. After some battles against Plasma grunts, Bel's Munna was gotten back. Touko was going to the Pokemon Center to rest, when she saw N. He was lost, desperately looking for the Pokemon Center, with a wounded pokemon in his arms. Touched by that, she helped him take the pokemon to be healed. They talked more this time, and she told him she believed that he could understand pokemon.

In Nimbasa city, they met once more. They rode on the amusement park's ferry's wheel. The view was great, the weather was nice and Touko thought nothing could ruin her day... Until N made the surprising revelation.

"Touko, I need to tell you something. I... **I** am the king of Team Plasma."

"Huh? What?" It came so suddenly that it took her some time for the information to register.

"Didn't you hear what I said? I am the king of Team Plasma," he repeated.

"... What... What did you just..." She was very confused. "... It... It's a joke, right?"

"No, it's true."

He kept telling her about the suffering pokemon that he saw, and how he agreed to lead Team Plasma.

"Ghetsis gathered many talented people to join forces and help pokemon. Isn't it wonderful?" He said with such enthusiasm, like a child showing a brand new toy, strengthening the idea that it was a joke.

But unfortunately, it wasn't. When they got out of the ferry's wheel, Plasma grunts appeared and addressed him as their "lord", them he forced her to battle him, buying time for the grunts' escape. Losing the battle, N said that he would change the world by befriending Zekrom, the legendary dragon pokemon of ideals, them winning the Pokemon League to become Champion. As everyone respected the Champion, he would have no problems making them follow his ideas and free all pokemon.

After that revelation, Touko didn't know what to think anymore. N was Plasma's king. But something inside her insisted that he wasn't a bad person. The more she thought about it, more she suspected that something was wrong about Team Plasma. While they said they wanted to help pokemon, their actions were the opposite of their words. Yet, N seemed really concerned about pokemon's well-being. Touko didn't tell Cheren nor Bel about the turmoil in her head, but she confided everything to her pokemon in her dreams.

* * *

Touko's number of badges increased, as did her pokemon team. The new members of her party also could talk to her in dreams... The pokemon small enough to use the pillows, anyway. The bigger ones had to relay messages through the others. Their voices were low at first, getting louder and clearer as the time passed. That lead them to the conclusion that the more Touko bonded with a pokemon, more clear its voice got in the dream.

After she got her seventh badge, to her dismay, she actually saw when N awakened Zekrom at the top of Dragonspiral Tower (near the city with the seventh gym). He said that he was one step closer to freeing all pokemon, and the only thing capable of stopping him and Zekrom was Reshiram, the legendary dragon pokemon of truth. Then, he climbed onto Zekrom's back and flew away. Touko was terrified seeing the big black dragon. Alder, the League Champion, who was there investigating Plasma activities, told her that he saw N with the Dark Stone (the hibernating form of Zekrom), but couldn't do anything as the stone emitted a bright light and turned into the dragon. He also said that there was another stone similar to the one that N had: the Light Stone, which was supposed to be the hibernating form of Reshiram, the other dragon pokemon. To ensure that Team Plasma wouldn't get it so that N had no opposition, they had to find it first. They did, and for some reason that Touko didn't quite remember, it ended up in her hands. Or rather, in her bag.

She got her eight badge, crossed Victory Road and defeated the Pokemon League's Elite Four, only to discover that N had defeated Champion Alder! Suddenly, a castle rose up from underground and destroyed various parts of the place where the Pokemon League was happening. That was the (until then) secret hideout of Team Plasma: N's Castle. Touko, Cheren and Alder entered, deciding that someone had to stop N. Many Plasma members appeared, including most of the higher-ups, the Seven Sages. Being told by Bel that Plasma's king had a legendary pokemon and would challenge Alder, various cities' gym leaders came to see what was happening at the League. They got to the castle and were helping Alder and Cheren to take on the Plasma members, and suddenly Touko was the only one not doing anything. She heard some words of encouragement, and when she noticed, her legs were carrying her on their own. She didn't know why, but she kept running. She ran past some Plasma grunts, entered various similar rooms, and got lost searching for a door, or stairs, or any other place that hopefully would take her ahead. After walking for some time, she finally got to a set of stairs, which was where she was right now.

X:X:X:X:X

Touko was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice what was going on. Corona, a female Larvesta that hatched from an egg she got at Route 18, escaped the poke ball and was playing with the zipper of her bag. The baby pokemon opened the zipper all the way through and stopped for a few seconds, then something inside caught her attention. It was a beautiful white stone, and there was something warm emanating from it.

"Hi!" Corona said in pokemon language. "You a friend?"

"Yes." Came the voice from the stone.

"Woohoo! Friend! Friend!" Corona jumped excitedly for a bit, then stopped, listening intently.

"You can hear me?"

"Hum!" the Larvesta said, jumping once again in response.

"Interesting, because most others can't."

"I'm Corona! I'm a Larvesta, but everyone call's me Corona. You?"

"I'm Reshiram."

"Touko gave you a name?"

"No, not yet." Reshiram noted the baby pokemon's incorrect speech, but decided to let it pass.

"Re... Shi... Reshi... ..." After having trouble trying to say the name, she eventually gave up. "Can I call you Shira?"

Reshiram chuckled at the little pokemon, then answered. "Yes, I don't mind."

"Okay! Shira!"

"Corona, what're you doing! ?" Touko finally noticed Corona's cries. To her dismay, she saw the little Larvesta playing with the Light Stone, out of all things. "Aaaaaaaaaah! Stop!" She practically yanked the pokemon away from her bag. Recovering from the shock, she breathed deeply before speaking. "Corona, listen. This is Team Plasma's place. It's dangerous. I want you to go back to your poke ball, so you'll be safe."

Corona gave Touko a worried look, then turned to the direction of the Light Stone again. "Shira... You'll protect Touko, right?"

"I will."

Reassured, without another word, Corona willingly went back to her poke ball. It usually wasn't so easy. Touko found it strange, but decided not to think about it. She was relieved that no damage was done to the stone and the other things in her bag. Corona was very young, but just a little more time and she would start learning fire attacks... Then who knew what could happen.

Touko adjusted the Light Stone in its usual place, closed the bag, stood up and would start walking, only to collide with someone, causing her hat to fall.

"Aaah, I am sorry. Here." The woman that collided with her gave her hat back. "Are you Alright?"

"Huh? Yeah..." She looked at the person, who was accompanied by another woman.

"You are Touko, right?" It was obvious, but the woman, the same one from before, decided to ask.

"Right. I am. And... You are?" Touko asked warily.

"My name is Anthea."

"And I am Concordia," the other one said. "We would like to talk with you."

It was strange. If they were there, they were Plasma members, weren't they? During her travels, Touko was forced to fight many Plasma grunts to get back stolen pokemon and such. She messed with them enough that she was noticeably being regarded as their enemy for some time now. Why would these two want to talk to her? And they seemed very friendly. It could be a trap...

"This way." Anthea began climbing the steps and gestured for Touko to follow.

She followed, with Concordia walking beside her. On the next floor, they entered a room and Concordia closed the door.

"Please, take a seat." Anthea pulled a chair for their guest.

"... So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Touko spoke after she sat down.

"It's about N," Concordia said, in a serious but gentle tone at the same time. she chose not to refer to him as "Lord N", noticing the wary look from the girl before her.

"N?" Touko expected to hear about how he was the king of Team Plasma and would change the world, blah blah blah, the same thing repeated by all Plasma members that she met after Dragonspiral Tower, but it wasn't exactly what came next.

"He was found as a child, living alongside pokemon." Concordia continued. "After bringing him here and confirming that he really could talk to pokemon, Ghetsis brought many of them for him to see... But he only let N see pokemon that were mistreated and abused by their previous trainers. Because of this, N started believing that all trainers abused pokemon and the only way to save those poor creatures was to set them free."

Touko was sympathizing with N, more than she was before, but she was still wary and an insistent voice in her mind said "Touko, don't let your guard down. She's saying this to convince you that N's right, that the only way for pokemon to be at peace is to free them. She's a Plasma member and she only wants you to release your pokemon!"

"We tried to change his mind, but he wouldn't listen." The woman kept talking, snapping Touko back to attention. "His heart is pure and innocent, and his determination is too great. It's a dangerous combination. These attributes allowed him to get close to the legendary pokemon, and now he's almost unstoppable. But we were thinking... Maybe there is something that can be done."

"On various occasions, he talked to us about you," Anthea said.

"... About me?" Touko was surprised to hear that.

"Yes," Anthea continued, "and by the way he talks about you, it seems he has really taken a liking to you. He said that you are different, that you are kind to people and pokemon alike. He also said that he wished you could be friends."

Hearing that was even more surprising, and Touko couldn't suppress a smile.

"Maybe **you** could change his mind." Concordia added. "So, we ask you this: please, save N."

"I... I'll do what I can," she managed to say.

"Yes! Finally! See? That was what I was trying to tell you!" It was Reshiram again, though of course Touko didn't hear her.

Touko stood up and Concordia opened the door for her.

"Wait. One more thing before you leave." Anthea stopped her. "N's Room is on the fourth floor. It is where he spent nearly all his childhood. If you want to know more about him, you should take a look."

* * *

Minutes later, Touko found N's room. She was surprised to see a child's playroom with books and toys scattered all over the place. It was clearly set up to keep its occupant distracted, creating a small world of pure fantasies, to hide him from the outside world and the world from him. That made her sympathize even more with N. By what she could gather, he had spent his childhood in that castle, in that room, and only allowed to see suffering pokemon. Suddenly, she had a strong desire of helping to set him in the right path. She wanted to show him new things. She wished that they could live alongside pokemon with no problems. She wished that they could be friends... But for all of that to happen, first, she needed to stop him. She didn't know how, but she would try. Touko left the room with determination showing in her eyes, and hurried to find the next set of stairs up.

* * *

A/n: there goes the first chapter. Sorry for it being a bit rushed and the lack of dialogue. I mostly wanted to get the whole journey out of the way, while pointing out some things that are different from the games. For example, in the games, N appears in Nacrene City, not Striaton. Much later, the protagonist takes the opposite stone, already planning to awaken the legendary pokemon and become a hero, as that's supposed to be the only thing capable of stopping N. In this story, Touko only takes it so it doesn't fall on Plasma's hands. Awakening the legendary pokemon doesn't even cross her mind. Other differences are to come, like pokemon using more than four moves, and attacks that they can learn but are not available at that point in the game, etc..

I usually don't name my pokemon ingame, but I decided to do so in this story in order to develop them better as characters.

Names:

* Takimaru (the Oshawott): from "Mijumaru" ("ミジュマル"), the Japanese name for Oshawott, and "taki" ("滝"), "waterfall".

* Monica (the Munna): can mean "unique".

* Corona (the Larvesta): "corona" can refer to the Sun's outer atmosphere that can only be seen during solar eclipses, can also mean "crown", and may be one of the words that originate the name for Volcarona (Larvesta's evolved form).


	2. Doubt

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 2: Doubt

"Everyone, we're almost there." N held various poke balls. "Just a little more and I'll free you from these dreadful balls."

He put the poke balls away and breathed deeply. Finally, he had done it. At last, N had befriended Zekrom, the legendary dragon pokemon of ideals. Together, they got the required gym badges, won against the Elite Four, and defeated Alder, the Pokemon League Champion. That meant that his biggest concern now was memorizing the speech he had to give, which would be broadcasted to the whole Unova region. He read the script several times until he could say everything without looking at the paper. Once satisfied, he proceeded to replay the speech over and over in his mind while he waited for Ghetsis to end the preparations. At some point, his thoughts wandered away from the speech, and images appeared in his mind.

X:X:X:X:X

Like most people, N left his home to pursue his dreams and surpass the region's Champion. But unlike them, it was for a very different reason: to gain the respect from Unova's people and convince them to free all pokemon. For that, he needed to challenge the gyms throughout Unova and get all the eight badges. That was easier said than done. He was aiming for his third badge, and it would be much easier if he could actually... Find the gym. Castelia City was too big. He wandered for hours looking for the gym. The buildings were too similar and he couldn't use anything as reference. He felt he was walking in circles. He tried to ask for help, but everyone seemed in a hurry and didn't stop. Most people didn't even look at him. Even those that bumped into him only apologized in an automatic manner and continued on their way, not giving a glance back. Finally finding a place that wasn't too crowded, he stopped walking, trying to organize his thoughts. He checked the time on his xtransceiver and sighed in frustration. If he didn't find the gym soon, it would get dark. He was about to resume his walk when he heard a weak voice.

"Help..."

It was so low that if the place was more crowded, he wouldn't have heard it. Being the pure hearted person that he was, N wanted to help, but he didn't know what was happening, nor if he would be able to do anything. By the weak but desperate plea, it could be something dangerous, or urgent, or...

"Help... Someone..."

He heard it again, a bit clearer. It was a child's voice. N was starting to get worried. He gave a quick glance at the people passing by. How could everyone be so insensitive and just ignore a child like that? When he noticed, he was already heading towards the voice.

"Help, I'm... Lost..."

"I'd like to help you, but the problem is that I'm also lost." N answered, still unable to locate the voice's source. He turned right and began walking, continuing his search.

"No. Don't go... Don't..."

"I'm not going away. But I'm having difficulties locating you. Where are you?"

"Behind... The car... Thing."

"A car?"

N looked near some cars parked there. Nothing. Lastly, there was a truck shamelessly parked across the sidewalk. He walked around it while thinking about the voice, trying to imagine its source. N heard normal words, and for him, there was no difference between pokemon and human speech, so he was surprised when he got to the other side and found a small, badly injured black fox pokemon laying on the ground.

"A Zorua?"

"Hmm..." The pokemon lifted his head to look at N. He seemed tired, having dirt and bruises all over his body.

"What happened to you?" N crouched in front of the Zorua.

"I... In the forest. Venipede... Poison..."

"Here, have this." N gave him a pecha berry and the poison was healed. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Hm." The pokemon nodded weakly.

"Can you hold on a bit more? I'll take you to the Pokemon Center. I hope I can find it soon..."

* * *

N walked for some time and didn't find anything. He couldn't give up, that Zorua was depending on him. He stopped briefly to consider which way to turn, when he heard another voice.

"N?"

He turned behind. His eyes widened in surprise seeing who was there.

"... Touko?"

It was unexpected, but finally someone noticed him! And it was her, the girl who intrigued him because of her pokemon. N thought all trainers abused pokemon, but the Oshawott accompanying her said that she was a good person. On the other hand, her impression of him didn't seem very good. She gave him a strange look when he said that he could understand pokemon. Later, she seemed to try avoiding him when he saw her near the Striaton gym. But it wasn't time to worry about those things, treating Zorua was first priority. It was worth asking for her help. N only wished she wasn't lost too...

"This pokemon needs help." N saw as Touko looked at Zorua and true concern showed on her face. "I found him poisoned in the middle of the city. I gave him a berry and healed the poison, but he still needs treatment. By any chance, would you happen to know where the Pokemon Center is?"

"I was actually heading there now. Come, this way."

They quickly got to the Pokemon Center and left Zorua in the nurse's care. Touko's pokemon were rested quickly as they were only tired, but Zorua's condition was much worse, so his treatment would take more time.

N and Touko waited in silence for some minutes.

"... 'Your' pokemon are already rested. You don't have to stay here." N really didn't like to use the terms "my pokemon" or "your pokemon", as they mainly indicated possessiveness over the poor creatures.

"I want to make sure Zorua is okay."

Reacting to that comment, N gave a little smile. "You really care about pokemon."

"Of course!" Touko said as if that behavior was a normal thing. For N, it wasn't, so that only left him more intrigued.

* * *

Two hours passed. Touko was taking a shower when the nurse finally brought Zorua.

"How are you feeling?" N asked when he was alone with the pokemon.

"I feel very good! Thank you, you saved me! You and your friend." The little pokemon said, happily jumping left and right on the ground.

"You're welcome." N said, then continued after a pause. "What were you doing in the forest?"

The pokemon's happy expression vanished almost instantly. He stopped jumping and climbed on the sofa beside N. "I... I was... Abandoned..."

"That's sad." N gave him an understanding look. "Was it your trainer?"

"Yeah. He said I was rare and captured me... But just some days and he left me. Just because..." He trailed off, unsure if he should say it.

"Go on. Tell me."

"... Because... Just because... I can't make illusions!"

N's eyes were full of anger. Trainers really didn't have a minimum of respect for pokemon. He put Zorua on his lap and patted him, trying to comfort him.

"That's horrible. I know how you feel. I met many pokemon that were abused, mistreated, or abandoned by trainers, just like you. I can't take it anymore, so I'm making a plan to free all pokemon from cruel trainers."

"Really? That's great... But for me, it isn't just the trainers. My parents... Everyone... No one wanted me around because of this... I'm a shame to my species... That's what they said."

N didn't know exactly what to say. That case was worse than most others that he had dealt with. Instead of speaking, he chose simply to hug the pokemon, hopping that the gesture could comfort better than words. They stayed quiet for a few minutes, then Zorua hopped back to the sofa and decided to start another conversation.

"... So... You said you met many pokemon. Did you meet other Zorua?"

"Yes," N answered. "I had another Zorua friend. He's a Zoroark now. Maybe you should talk to him some time." Seeing the uncertainty in Zorua's face, he added. "Don't worry. He's very understanding and won't treat you differently because of your problem."

Zorua was a bit unsure about that, but said nothing. When he spoke again, it was another subject entirely. "I was wondering... You have a name, right? Humans put names on their kids, and on some pokemon too. Your friend called you something, but I don't remember..."

N chuckled.

"You're right. We're here talking for so long, and I forgot to introduce myself. My name's N."

"N... It's an easy name."

"Huh? Thank you..." N smiled. It wasn't what he usually heard. Most humans said that his name was weird, and most pokemon didn't comment.

"Why do humans like giving names to others?" Zorua looked curiously at N.

"Because names make it easier to identify people. Imagine that there are three people together. If we just start talking, they may not know who we're talking to, so we call them by name to avoid confusion."

"Hmm..." Zorua closed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment, then opened them and looked back at N. "Okay, I think I get it... But what's the difference between a name and a nickname?"

It was N's turn to become thoughtful. That pokemon asked so subtle things...

"Let's see... To put it simply, a name is... Official... In the case of humans, it's given by their family. In most cases, nicknames are given based on someone's traits. They aren't official and are given by someone else, like a friend."

"I don't have any friends..." The little fox lowered his head.

"You do. Now, you have me."

"Oh!" Zorua lifted his head and his eyes lit up. "Then... I want a nickname! Will you give one to me?"

"What?" N was horrified by that. He had never nicknamed a pokemon before, mostly because it was one of the things that trainers... Those horrible people... Did. He was planning on releasing Zorua afterward. All pokemon would be released eventually. They weren't used to having nicknames, so for him, having one was a "curse" from trainers.

"I want a nickname!" The little pokemon repeated, making puppy eyes. It was becoming difficult to resist.

"I... I'll think about it." N finally conceded, but still hoping to delay it as much as possible.

"Great! Great great greaaat!" Zorua happily tackled N in the closest to a hug that he could manage, leaving the teenager feeling even more guilt for trying to delay the answer to the request.

Getting back to the sofa at N's side, Zorua looked at the door and saw Touko standing there. She arrived just in time to see the little fox's display of affection, and was looking at them, smiling.

"N, your friend is back. What was her name?"

"Touko," he answered simply. He didn't want to say that she "officially" wasn't even his friend yet.

"What's it?" Hearing her name, she entered and walked towards them.

"Huh?" N was momentarily confused. Then he remembered that she could only understand one side of the conversation. "Oh, nothing. He asked what was your name, so I answered him..." A pang of regret hit him as soon as he finished speaking. he wished he could take back what he had just said, but it was too late. He had forgotten an important detail: it wasn't a good thing to tell people that a pokemon "said" something, specially Touko, who became wary around him since he told her that he understood pokemon.

"Ah. Nice to see that you're full of energy!" She went to pat Zorua on the sofa, apparently not paying any mind to N's answer.

The pokemon said something. Of course, she didn't understand.

"He likes you," N was more careful this time, just summarizing instead of translating. It was difficult for him, but he had to admit that pokemon liked her. And it wasn't limited to the ones that were with her.

She smiled, but her expression became serious all of a sudden. "... N?"

"Yes?"

"I... I wanted to tell you that... I believe you now. About... About your ability to understand pokemon. I believe you."

N was taken aback by that.

"... You do?" He still needed confirmation. It was too hard for him to believe.

"Yes, I do." Touko kept her serious expression.

Outside of Plasma, no one apparently believed that he understood pokemon. But Touko... First, she and her pokemon cared about each other, something that shouldn't be normal. Now this? There was definitely something different about her...

"You're really one of a kind," N thought. The words were kept to himself, but his smile was a bit wider.

* * *

Two days passed. N was at a room in the castle, where his pokemon friends were. He knew most of them since his childhood. He would release them into the wild after succeeding with his pokemon liberation plan, but that was still a long way ahead. At that moment, he was facing another problem: convincing the newest group member to stay there. Zorua still needed support, but by N's judgment, it was better to leave him with some good pokemon instead of traveling with him. That would make it easier for Zorua to adapt after being released.

"What? But I thought you'd be my trainer! I wanted to collect the eight... Shiny things with you!"

For N, Zorua only said that because he was a child and didn't know what he was talking about. Battling through the gyms would only make the little fox suffer. N was "sacrificing" many pokemon to help with his plan already. He wouldn't involve more pokemon than strictly necessary.

"I'm sorry. I'm very busy with my plan of freeing the pokemon and..."

"I want to help!" Zorua interrupted him.

"It's too dangerous. I'll handle it."

"... But..."

"I'll be fine. You stay here safe."

"N... You still didn't give me a nickname..." Zorua made a puppy face again, but this time it didn't work.

"Wait until I come back. Hopefully it won't be long." N had to say something to try satisfying his new friend. "Now, I have to go. Everyone, please take good care of him." He left, walking decidedly and not looking back.

"Noooooo! N! N!" Zorua tried to go after N, and it took some of the other pokemon's strength to restrain him.

N left the room as quickly as possible, resisting the temptation to go back. He could still hear Zorua's cries when he crossed the nearest corridor, passing by Rood, one of the Plasma Sages, who amusedly looked at the direction where he came from...

* * *

On another day, N met Touko again in Nimbasa city. When they were passing through the amusement park, he insisted that she rode the ferry's wheel with him. He decided to talk to her. As she also loved pokemon, N thought that she would understand, and maybe help his cause. He revealed that he was Team Plasma's king, then proceeded to tell her about the suffering of the pokemon that he saw, and how he agreed to form Team Plasma and free them from the cruel trainers. She didn't believe him at first, but after the ferry's wheel ride ended, with some Plasma grunts appearing and recognizing him, she finally believed. But her reaction was the opposite of what he expected.

Some days later, when they met in Chargestone Cave, she seemed to try avoiding him again, and it was even worse than before when she didn't believe he could hear pokemon talking. She didn't speak much and looked at him as if he was a complete stranger. Wanting to ease the tension between them, he decided to talk about a casual subject, or at least, what he thought was a casual subject...

"Touko... Do you have a dream?"

"Huh?" That question came totally out of the blue and caught her off guard. She looked at him, confused. "A dream?"

"Yes, a dream."

"... Hmm... Not anything too special, but yeah, I guess..."

"You have one. That's good." And suddenly he didn't know what to say anymore.

Both only stared at each other in an awkward silence. The tension remained there. N still wanted to do something about it. To him, Touko was a different person, good to pokemon and people. He wanted to know her better, but she didn't seem to want to open up to him. He knew that he would regret it later, but he did the only thing that he could think off.

"Touko... Do you really believe that... That people can know each other better through pokemon battles?"

"... Y-yeah," she reluctantly answered.

"I still can't understand how. So... Battle me."

They battled. He lost, really regretting having made his friends suffer. Touko didn't say much after the battle. Throughout their entire conversation, she didn't smile once. She acted coldly towards him from when they met, to the moment when she left. That made him feel bad. Why did that had to happen? Just when he thought he was one step closer to becoming her friend... Then it clicked. Touko was acting differently after he told her that he was the king of Team Plasma, and she was against the group's philosophy. At Nimbasa City, he had thought she was just having a hard time believing him. Only then he concluded that it wasn't all. She was acting that way because she was against Team Plasma, meaning that from the time he made that revelation, they officially became enemies. They could never be friends...

X:X:X:X:X

"Aaaaaah!" N was startled, having his thoughts suddenly interrupted by a loud bang on one of the throne room's walls, followed by a mighty roar.

"Grrrrrrrrrr! It's finally the moment you were waiting for, isn't it? Get something started already!"

"Be patient, Zekrom." N went over to the window to talk with the infuriated legendary. "We need to wait for Ghetsis. He's making some important preparations for my announcement. I can't do anything... Except memorize this." N showed a paper with the script. "Please, be patient."

Zekrom grunted in annoyance but said nothing.

N read the script one last time just to be sure, then went back to the window. It was very big, taking almost the whole wall. It looked as if it were made specially for Zekrom to pass through. Before that day, the castle was underground, so it was always dark. For a long time, N tried to understand why it had windows. Now, finally he could contemplate the view below in all it's glory. The sensation of seeing the world from above. Everything was so small, like the toys in his room. Somewhere in the middle of those small structures, there was the Pokemon League and... Touko was participating. He saw her there when he defeated the Champion, just before the castle rose. That memory made N's thoughts drift away again.

When he met Touko's pokemon for the first time, he was surprised to hear from them that she was nice to them. Throughout his journey, he saw many others that loved their trainers and vice versa. Thinking about that always left him utterly confused. Were they only exceptions, or was he missing something?

"Is this really the right thing to do?" He said mostly to himself, but his speech was overheard and there was another bang on a near wall.

"What are you talking about! ? Of course it is the right thing to do! They are the ideals that you worked so hard to have spread! You even recruited me for that. You are here now, and I am still with you, supporting your ideals. You should be thankful for that. So, don't even think about giving up!"

"Yes, you're right." N forced a smile, and went back to his thoughts.

Touko's image came to his mind once more.

"She must hate me now..." Again, he thought aloud unintentionally.

"Hm? Don't tell me you are thinking about that girl again!" Came Zekrom's voice from outside the window. "She is the other h... I mean, she is against you! She is against your ideals! Don't be distracted by her!"

"Yes, I know, sorry."

"Then, be sorry for yourself, because the ideals are yours."

"Huh?" N raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? If you're supporting me, doesn't it mean that we have the same objective?"

"Hmph." Zekrom snorted. "My ideals are another story. But if I can fulfill my objective by helping you, then I will do so."

N decided to be quiet. each day that passed, Zekrom became more difficult to deal with, and by what he noticed, testing the dragon's patience wasn't a wise decision.

Tired of seeing the boy getting distracted, Zekrom wordlessly flew away from the window.

N was trying to concentrate on his mission. He was thinking if he should read the script again, at least to take the doubts away from his mind, when the door opened abruptly. Then, his throne room was invaded by the same person that invaded his thoughts earlier.

"Touko...?"

* * *

A/n: Castelia event Zorua! More or less... This one can't create illusions, and isn't the Zoroark from N's team.


	3. Plan B

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 3: Plan B

Touko was standing outside the door labeled "Throne Room". She quietly talked to herself, thinking on a plan.

"Ah, it would be so good if I could convince N just by talking, without a fight..."

"Yes, it would." Reshiram agreed, although Touko couldn't hear her.

"But he wouldn't listen... If I want to prove my point, I'll have to fight him."

"Most likely."

"I battled him before, I know how he fights. If we battle, and if he doesn't call Zekrom, I think I have a chance, but..."

"But the problem is that it seems Zekrom is angrier than ever this time, and he would probably fight, with N's consent or not. But don't worry. If worse comes to worse, there's Plan B."

"... No, I can't give up." Touko shook her head. "I have to do something! And I'm not alone. My pokemon are with me."

"Yes, that's the spirit. Let's do it."

"Here we go! One, two..."

"Three!" Reshiram shouted simultaneously with Touko as the door was thrown open.

It isn't every day one has the opportunity of seeing a throne room. Touko didn't pay any mind to that as she barged unceremoniously into the place.

"Touko...?" N's eyes widened in surprise.

Both teenagers walked forward, closing the distance between them.

"N!" Touko shouted even though they were in conversational range. She wore the most confident expression that she could manage. She was there to talk N out of Plasma's ideals, and she would do it no matter what. "Please, stop! Can't you see it? If you can really understand what pokemon say, you should know that many of them don't want to be released, and that there are many good trainers!"

"Yes, I know. But unfortunately, they're only a few exceptions. I saw more suffering pokemon than I can count..." His face turned sad, but soon settled into a determined one. "But now, these days are over. It's time for me to save all pokemon once and for all!"

Surely, N was too determined to follow his ideals and wouldn't listen anytime soon. Touko racked her brains searching for something she could do, but there wasn't another choice. "N... Let's make a deal. Let's have a pokemon battle. If I win, you'll have to stop, and listen to me." She took a poke ball from her belt.

"Ah..." He sighed. "It's ridiculous. The world's dominated by these trainers, and it's what all of them do. Try to solve things through pokemon battles..." He also took a poke ball. "Fine then. If these are the rules, I'll win and show you my power. I'll show you what's right, just like I did with the Champion!" He didn't want to hurt Touko's pokemon nor his childhood friends more than necessary, but he hopped he could win the battle without the need to call Zekrom. "Come on, Vanilluxe!"

"Takimaru, let's go!"

The poke balls touched the ground and opened, then bounced and were caught in mid air by the trainers. A bright light appeared on the ground where the balls had touched, taking the forms of the two combatants.

"Takimaru, use Return!"

Forming a sphere of energy around his body, Takimaru, now a Dewott, sped up through the battlefield, colliding with full force into the ice cream like pokemon, who tumbled some distance away.

"Vanilluxe!" N called, worried.

"Razor Shell!"

Nor the trainer nor the pokemon gave time for Vanilluxe to recover. The ice pokemon, still dizzy, was slashed by the Dewott's scalchops and knocked out, despite not having a type disadvantage or anything.

"Vanilluxe... I'm sorry. Please take a rest." N returned his friend to the poke ball and quickly thought of a strategy. He didn't like using type advantages, because pokemon suffered more when hit by attacks they were weak against, but this battle was important, he didn't have much choice. With determination in his eyes, he threw another poke ball. "Klinklang!"

The ball opened and the gear pokemon appeared in the middle of the room.

"Charge," N commanded.

"Takimaru, Water Pulse!"

Takimaru launched his water attack. Klinklang was hit and thrown a short distance back, but was able to spin his gears to concentrate energy.

"Good. Now, Discharge!"

Klinklang shot a blast of electricity and hit the Dewott hard. The water pokemon endured it as best as he could. He was a bit disorientated for a moment, but recovered.

"Takimaru! Are you okay?" She received a nod as confirmation. "Then, revenge!"

She actually didn't need to say it as Takimaru was already on it. Seeming infuriated, he smashed his shells violently against his opponent. The steel pokemon could do nothing to avoid the powerful super effective fighting type attack and was out of combat instantly.

N's widened eyes showed horror and pain, as if he were the one hit by a super effective move.

"Please... I'm counting on you..." He whispered to his third poke ball, doing his best to hide any hint of doubt.

From the ball came a Zoroark, N's strongest ally besides the legendary.

"Water Pulse!" Touko shouted.

"Night Slash."

Zoroark moved first, slashing the Dewott with such a force that made him fall on his back. Takimaru stood up with difficulty and fired the Water Pulse. Zoroark avoided most of the attack but was still barely hit. Both stood on either end of the battlefield, Takimaru obviously much more worn out.

"Night Slash once more."

Again, Zoroark moved first. Takimaru already had difficulty standing and couldn't dodge. The only thing he could do was close his eyes and brace for impact. This time, the hit was too much for him and he fell unconscious.

"Thanks Takimaru, you did great." Touko returned him to his poke Ball. "Junka, help us here please!"

From the ball came a Mienshao. N tried to hide his worry. Touko was resorting to type advantages too much. It probably meant that she was really serious, and that the battle was very important to her, maybe as much as it was to him. A fight to see which of the two beliefs was stronger.

"Junka, use Brick Break!"

The round had started. N had to think quickly. Zoroark's specialty, dark type attacks, wouldn't work very well against a fighting type pokemon.

"Double Team!"

There was a flash of light, various images of Zoroark appeared and circled the Mienshao, , making her unable to identify the true one.

"Aerial Ace!"

Following N's command, all Zoroark images simultaneously jumped and struck with their claws in mid air. Circled by the images, Junka stepped to a side trying to avoid the true one by chance, but luck wasn't on her side and the true opponent was exactly where she chose to go. She was sent flying and passed through three Zoroark images before hitting the ground.

"Junka! Are you alright?"

The pokemon jumped to her feet, indicating that she could continue.

Not enough, just as N expected. Aerial Ace wasn't a very powerful move, and it was worse when performed by a non flying type pokemon, but its advantage was that it was easy to perform and difficult to miss. They still had a chance. If they could get another strike in, they probably could take the Mienshao down.

"Zoroark, Aerial Ace again!"

Touko thought of a plan. It was risky. If her attack missed and backfired, Junka would probably be out of combat, but Touko didn't know how many more hits her pokemon could endure. Then she reminded herself that it was an important battle, the one which would determine if N would separate humans and pokemon or not. The one that would decide if N could become her friend or not... Yes, it was worth trying.

"Junka, use Detect! Then... Then Hi-Jump Kick!"

Junka concentrated and was able to see through the shadows, identifying the real Zoroark. She managed to avoid the Aerial Ace and ran toward him, then executed her most powerful and most risky move, Hi-Jump Kick. The dark pokemon was thrown upward, almost hit the ceiling, and crashed down in front of N, in pain and dizzy.

"Zoroark!" N ran to his fox friend, who was more hurt than the other two, and gave him a berry. Before N could do or say anything else, Zoroark pressed the button on the poke ball clipped to N's belt and went inside on his own. N took a while to recover his speech, surprised that his friend unexpectedly chose to stay inside the "dreadful" ball, without being commanded and forced to.

Touko recalled Junka back to the poke ball for some rest. She wanted to smile seeing N gently tending to his pokemon, but he went back to his position in the other side of the battlefield, reminding her that the battle wasn't over and she couldn't let her guard down.

Things weren't turning very well for N. He only had accepted Touko's challenge because he was sure he would win. He had already defeated the Champion. Touko shouldn't be a threat. N wished he could go easy on her and still defeat her, but it was proving to be harder than he thought. He already had three fainted pokemon, while Touko had only one. All that he accomplished by keeping with that plan was getting his friends hurt. He had to seriously consider his options.

"Touko, this is pointless," he said after making a decision, and seeing Touko's confident face. "It's like I said before. I'll show you power. The power that defeated the Champion... Come here, Zekrom!"

Answering to N's call and eager to fight, the black dragon crashed into the throne room, destroying the wall with the window that N gazed through moments before.

Touko completely lost her confidence and froze in fear. She had never seen a structure being destroyed by a pokemon with such ferocity before. One didn't need to be a psychic, nor a skilled trainer, nor anything special to feel the aura of power emanating from the dragon. It was as though Zekrom could obliterate all of her pokemon just by looking at them... That almost made Touko agree with N about the battle being pointless. She was so shocked that she didn't notice the little argument that was going on.

"Zekrom, you didn't need to do that! The window was open, there was enough space for you to pass through... You didn't need to destroy the wall!"

"You called, and I am here. It is all that matters."

N sighed. There was no point in arguing. Risking getting Zekrom more angered wasn't a good option. N breathed deeply, then as if nothing had happened, he spoke. "Touko."

The girl in question was still frozen in fear, and only snapped back to attention when she heard her name.

N continued. His tone was calm, warning, almost pleading. "You don't have a chance. Give up before it's too late. I know that you care deeply about the pokemon that are with you. If you continue, you'll only hurt them, and I don't want that. So do what's best. Give up, and release them, right now."

"No... I I won't give up!" Touko shouted, trying to look defiant and failing miserably.

"You have been warned." N hesitated for a few seconds, then continued. "I didn't want to have to do this, but if winning the battle is the only way to satisfy you... Then I'll do it. I'll prove to you that my ideals are superior. Zekrom and me are unstoppable!"

"Are you sure about that?" Reshiram's distant voice came, but no one, not even N, heard it. "Ah." She sighed. "Plan A has failed. So, time to start Plan B..."

Touko felt something warm behind her. She put her trembling hands behind and noticed that the warmth was coming from her bag. She opened the zipper and, to her surprise, a glowing Light Stone floated out of the bag and headed towards the room's center.

"What? This is... I see. So you're the other..."

N didn't finish his sentence. The glowing was more intense each second, until the light was so bright that the humans had to shield their eyes. When Touko opened them after feeling the glowing had stopped, she almost fainted. In her side of the battlefield where she was supposed to send her next pokemon, there was another dragon as big and intimidating as Zekrom, but white and with more delicate features.

"R... Reshiram..." Touko's voice came in a whisper.

"Yup, that's right." She answered, but it was in pokemon language and, unfortunately, for "normal" ears, it sounded more like a roar, making Touko back away in fear, lose her balance and fall in a sitting position on the ground. The girl was obviously scared and Reshiram couldn't do anything without scaring her more, so she opted to trash talk with Zekrom, hopping to give Touko time to pull herself together. "Ah, Zekrom. Very energetic as always, aren't you?"

"Hmph. This will be the last time that you say those stupid greetings. Today is the day that I will settle our score once and for all!"

"Ah." Reshiram "sighed". "You really don't change."

"And you change too much. You are more irritating each generation."

"I've learned many things during all this time. I could tell you many interesting stories if you wanted... Actually, I would prefer telling stories instead of fighting you."

"So you don't want to fight. Are you saying that you admit defeat?"

"No, I'm saying that I'm tired of these pointless battles."

"Then I will do as you wish and make sure this is the last one."

"Oh, very generous of you," Reshiram said sarcastically.

"Hmph. N, I am tired of this useless chatting. Get this started already!"

"R right." N gave a quick glance at Touko, who was still trembling and trying to stand. "Then... Zekrom, use Thunder!"

Zekrom released a ball of energy upward, which crashed down as a thunder in Reshiram's direction, but she dodged it easily.

Reshiram was waiting for Touko's instructions, but none came. On the other hand, N kept commanding Zekrom.

"Use Slash!"

Zekrom slashed furiously left and right. Reshiram sometimes parried with slashes of her own, but she mostly dodged.

Noticing that the black dragon was getting annoyed by the opponent's lack of will to fight, N decided to change strategies. "Thunderbolt!"

Zekrom backed away and quickly created a thunderbolt in front of him, which Reshiram countered with a blast of fire. The attacks collided and caused an explosion in the middle of the room. Both pokemon were hit by it. Not much damage was done neither to them nor to the room.

Zekrom was better with physical attacks, so he decided to switch back to melee combat. He sped toward Reshiram again, intending to resume with his slashes, and took a Fire Blast to the face. He was resistant to fire, but the attack was strong and he got a burn.

"Grrr... Not bad... But not enough!" He roared. "This isn't all of your power, is it?"

The white dragon said nothing. She just concentrated in dodging the attacks coming her way. Giving him a burn wasn't much, but the damage would build up over time and his attacks would be a bit weaker. She would buy some time by just dodging the attacks, the burn would take effect, and she hopped Touko would regain her composure. At that point, Reshiram knew that the girl was too scared and probably wouldn't be able to help with the battle, but perhaps Touko could resume the original plan and try talking to N or something...

Touko had backed away as far as she could and leaned against a pillar. Then the battle started, and soon her legs gave way again and she was sitting on the ground once more. Her hands and legs were shaking, and her heart was beating uncontrollably fast. She had closed her eyes, not wanting to see the violent display of power before her.

"Touko!" N shouted from where he was. "Won't you command Reshiram? If you want to win this battle, it's your only chance. Zekrom has my support. If you don't help Reshiram, she'll be alone. You'll be alone. Who do you think has more chances of winning? Two people fighting for a common cause together, or two fighting for the same cause, but alone?"

"Now! He's talking to you, it's your chance! Touko, say something!" Reshiram thought, while dodging a Thunder Fang.

"I... I..." Touko tried to speak, but her voice failed her.

She was still trembling while thinking. It was useless, she couldn't do anything. Fighting Team Plasma, or trying to convince N to be her friend... Those were nothing compared to the real reason of that battle. It was far more dangerous than she could have imagined. It was a fight started in the first days of the Unova region and was ongoing for generations. Touko didn't have any special ability, she was no hero nor anything. Reshiram had no reason whatsoever to obey her. Everything was lost. Those two dragons would fight until they destroyed each other and whatever was in their path. The room... No, the castle would be destroyed, maybe the Unova region would end. She would die. So much for taking the Light Stone so it didn't fall on the hands of Team Plasma... and that was what happened to those who messed with things they weren't even supposed to know about.

The battle went on. The dragons attacked and dodged left and right, backing away to throw a longer range special attack once in a while. Many of those missed their intended target and hit the walls, leaving scorching marks on them and destroying some security cameras. Thankfully, none hit any of the trainers. Zekrom managed to hit Reshiram with three Thunderbolts and was hit by two Fire Blasts. Both were starting to get tired and their movements were a bit slower, but neither showed signs of giving up.

"Ancient Power!" N shouted.

It wasn't a very powerful move, and not a physical one, so not really one of Zekrom's best moves, but N's command had a good timing, and it was a rock type attack super effective against Reshiram that made her stop in pain for a few seconds, giving Zekrom some time to think. He was far from going down, but he was tiring quickly. Reshiram also was, but that burn she gave him was limiting his movements. It was an advantage for her. He needed to be more careful. Zekrom decided that he had to use fewer and stronger attacks. The fewer the better. Preferably only one. He was thinking on a plan when his eye caught sight of the girl sitting on the ground.

"Very good timing, N. On the other hand, what a pathetic excuse for a hero you got there, Reshiram. She can't even stand!"

"Zekrom, don't insult her," Reshiram said, but was ignored.

"She won't speak to you. She doesn't have enough will to see the battle. And if I simply look at her like this..."

Despite having her eyes closed, Touko visibly shivered feeling Zekrom's chilling gaze on her.

"Just a little more, just a little more..." Zekrom thought, seeing that his taunting had an effect. If there was something that angered Reshiram, it was when someone (usually himself) messed with her heroes.

"Stop! Stop now!"

"Come and make me."

Reshiram was worried. Zekrom was getting more violent each generation, and he knew that the Heroes of Truth were very precious to her. She didn't want to deal with the possibility of him using that to gain an advantage, destabilizing her emotionally by hurting Touko. She had to stop him before things got out of hand. She went over all of the moves she could use, and suddenly his reason for angering her became clear.

"I know. I know what you want," she said decidedly. "You want me to use Fusion Flare, so that the power of your Fusion Bolt gets doubled, isn't it?"

Zekrom didn't want to give it away, but the face he made was enough confirmation. She read him too well...

"Know what? Unfortunately for you, I won't use Fusion Flare in this battle."

"Aren't you going to use your strongest attack? Then you can't win. You don't have any attack with a type advantage against me. As for me, I have one to use against you. Some time after we last battled, I trained days and nights nonstop in order to perfect this..." He showed his claws, which shone menacingly. "And finally, it's the time to use it!"

"Oh, is that so? Actually, I have one too."

"Do you? Then let's get this over with once for all and see which of our newest attacks are stronger!"

They were tired, and they knew that it would be their last attack. They would take the hit head on, and that move would decide the outcome of the battle.

"Dragon Claw!" Zekrom acted first.

"Dragon Pulse!"

Zekrom sped toward Reshiram, and as soon as he landed the hit, a strong pulse of energy was released from her body and hit him square. Contorting and roaring in pain, both dragons were dragged backwards by the force of the attacks and fell to the ground, making a very loud bang and causing the room to shake.

There was silence for a moment. When Touko risked opening her eyes, she saw both dragons on the ground, unmoving. They had burns and slash marks in various parts of their bodies. Zekrom's face showed pain and his eyes were closed, but she wasn't sure if he was still conscious (he wasn't). She almost shuddered again when she saw that Reshiram had her eyes open. Trying to look away from the fearsome dragons, Touko caught sight of the green haired boy on the other side of the room, mouth agape.

"No, Z Zekrom... ... ... I... ... ... I... I lost..."

It took some time for N's words to click in Touko's mind.

N was thoughtful, looking conflicted.

"If I... If my ideals lost, does it mean that truth is superior?"

"No, not... Really..." Reshiram said weakly. "Both a are... Equally... Important..."

"Both?" N, the only one who could understand her, said. "Truth and ideals... Two different beliefs... Is it really possible to accept both Instead of rejecting one of them?" He thought for a bit more then answered his own question. ". "Yes... Maybe... Accepting different ideas... Maybe this is one of the keys... The keys to solve the equation to change the world..."

Very tired, and satisfied with N's conclusion, Reshiram managed a weak "smile" and allowed herself to close her eyes and succumb to unconsciousness. She couldn't move even though she felt that another problem was coming...

* * *

A/n: I'm pretty bad at writing action scenes of any kind. Partly due to my visual impairment, I can't imagine those scenes properly, much less turn them into words... I was surprised with this chapter. I think the battle turned out better than I expected. Yes, it could be better, but also it could be worse...

I didn't include Carracosta nor Archeops because I didn't want to deal with the implications of reviving fossilized pokemon through science, and its impact on N's mind.

Some moves that are used here and are different from the game:

* In the game, N's Klinklang doesn't have it, but Klinklang learns Charge at level 6 and Discharge at level 44.

* In the game, N's Zoroark doesn't have it, but Zoroark can learn Double Team and Aerial Ace via TM.

* Zekrom learns Thunder Fang via the Move Relearner, Thunderbolt at level 22 or via TM, and Slash at level 36.

* Reshiram learns Slash at level 36, and Fire Blast at level 78 or via TM.

* Reshiram and Zekrom learn Dragon Pulse and Dragon Claw respectively at level 54 (both can learn Dragon Claw via TM), not in time for N's final battle in the BW game.

Names:

* Junka (the Mienshao): a Japanese name, from "順" ("jun"), "docility", and "華" ("ka"), "flower". (this name could be more fitting to a grass type, but whatever...)


	4. Crushed by Truth

A/n: thank you to (not in any particular order) everyone who followed, or favorited, or reviewed, or came stealthily and read this story, although after this chapter, you'll probably want to kill me... But well, in the notes before the first chapter, you have been warned :P.

I'll leave my observations about this chapter in the end notes so as not to spoil things. So, let's begin.

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 4: Crushed by Truth

There was a long moment of silence in the throne room. N was the one to break it.

"Touko, you won."

"But... But I didn't do anything!" She managed to say, but N ignored her.

"Call your pokemon out. Let me heal the ones that took part in the battle."

Touko reluctantly opened the poke balls. First, she called Takimaru and Junka, the two that entered the previous battle. Seeing N gently talking to them and giving them berries, she felt a bit more at ease and decided to call the others. She threw a poke ball, and from it came Monica, the Munna.

"... I-is it over?" Monica asked when she was out of her poke ball.

"Yes," N answered, and it came out a bit more serious than he had intended.

The Munna saw the other pokemon out of their balls. Then she saw N's serious expression and Touko's uncertain one, and screamed. "Munyaaaaaa! No, no, no!" She quickly hide behind Touko. "No! I don't want to be released!"

"Calm down." N tried to relax his expression a bit. "Don't worry, you won't be released."

"... Huh?"

"Touko won, actually," Takimaru said. "I could hear the end of the battle from inside the poke ball. Weren't you listening?"

"I tried, but... I only heard roars and explosions... I was worried... And scared, and..." She shuddered and closed her eyes tightly.

"It's okay now." Junka tried to comfort her.

Touko threw one more poke ball, from which came her Crustle nicknamed Hardy.

"What? Is it over already?" The Crustle said. "I wanted to battle! You two had all the fun!"

"We didn't need you," Junka said playfully. "Well, actually we didn't need to battle much with Reshiram around." She pointed at the direction of the unconscious white dragon.

"Munyaaaaa!" Monica looked in the pointed direction and was scared again. "T-t-t-that big d-dragon..."

"I didn't see her fighting, but I could hear her talking, and she seemed nice," Junka said.

"... Nice... ?" The Munna said in disbelief.

The Mienshao continued. "Too bad that she's unconscious right now. She won the battle for us, we still need to thank her."

Monica cringed at the thought of awaking the legendary.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but by the noises it was a lot of fun..." The Crustle said.

"H-how can you s-say something like that! ?" Monica raised her voice. "You only think about battles! It wasn't fun, it was dangerous, i-it was..."

"Hey! Stop, you two!" The Mienshao tried to stop the small fight.

N didn't say anything, just smiled seeing the pokemon interacting with each other.

Before Touko could call, the last poke ball opened on its own. Corona materialized from it and ran to N. The others stopped their small argument to look at the baby Larvesta.

"Is it true that Touko won?"

"Yes, it is," N answered.

"So, you two won't fight anymore? You're friends now, right?"

Theoretically, they still weren't. N managed an assuring smile, however a bit of sadness showed in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Unfortunately, the Larvesta noticed.

"... Nothing."

"But..." The little pokemon insisted.

Junka noticed N's discomfort and decided to intervene. "He must be tired. All of us are, it was a rough day for everyone. We should go back to our poke balls and take a rest."

The others agreed.

"But I want to talk more!" Corona said stubbornly.

"We should rest, and let them rest as well. Takimaru said, motioning to the two humans.

Touko didn't understand the pokemon's part of the conversation. All she knew was that N seemed to accept that he had "lost", and now the pokemon were more at ease around him.

"Touko, you can call them back now."

She nodded in thanks and quickly called her pokemon back.

"Sorry, I ran out of berries..." N looked guiltily at the unconscious Reshiram and Zekrom.

Touko shivered thinking of the prospect of having the two dragons back to full power. Luckily, N began talking to her, making her shift her attention away from the fearsome legendaries.

"Touko, about our deal... I'll do my part. I'll stop trying to separate humans from pokemon."

"Huh? You... You will?"

It was hard to believe. N was so determined to prove her wrong some minutes ago, and now he simply gave up just like that?

"... Yes. Actually, during my journey, I met many pokemon and trainers that lived happily with each other. I thought that wasn't possible, but I kept meeting more and more of them. I recruited Zekrom to help spread my ideals, but I also wanted to know the truth. I wanted to know if those pokemon were just a few, or if the suffering ones that I saw were actually the exceptions. I thought the only way I could find out was by recreating the legend of the Unova heroes. A fight to see which of the beliefs was stronger, hero to hero. I needed that more than anything. But I thought it wouldn't happen, that the other hero wouldn't appear. Then you came and showed me the answer that I was looking for. Touko, thank you."

"B-but... I'm not... I'm not a hero. I just..."

"You brought Reshiram with you, and she was..." He would say that the white dragon was counting on her, that Reshiram had faith in her, but Touko cut in.

"I got the Light Stone from accident, I'm not a hero."

N would argue, but someone entered through the still open door and interrupted him.

"Right. You are **not** a hero. In fact, neither of you are. As for you, N, you are a failure!"

"G-Ghetsis? What... Aaaaaaah!" N was held by Ghetsis and violently punched in the face.

Horrified, Touko closed her eyes and covered her mouth.

"Ghetsis... F-Father..."

Touko was even more horrified to discover that N was Ghetsis' son.

"Hmph. Father?" The man spat the word back with disdain. "Do you still think that you deserve to share the name Harmonia with me?" He looked N in the eye and shouted in anger. "I knew that I couldn't get close to the dragon of ideals. Then I found you, a boy that could understand pokemon, lost in the forest. Pure, innocent, perfect for my plan. I adopted you. I raised you, training you to be Team Plasma's 'king'. I only showed you suffering pokemon to strengthen your ideals so you could get close to Zekrom, then conquer the League and make everyone in Unova release their pokemon, so that I would be the only one that could use pokemon and rule the region. But no, you had to lose to an ordinary trainer!"

Touko listened helplessly. So that was what happened, and what was wrong with Team Plasma. The problem was Ghetsis. Adopted or not, N didn't deserve to be that man's son.

The shouting continued. "You couldn't get anything right and fulfill the only purpose you had! You are useless! A failure! And you aren't worth enough to have these." Ghetsis snatched the poke balls from N. "Their full potential cannot be unleashed by a failure like you."

"No... My friends..." N said weakly.

Without another word, Ghetsis dragged the teenager and threw him to the other side of the room.

N fell in a sitting position on the ground, and made no effort to stand up. "My... Purpose..." His voice came almost inaudible. The truth that he wanted... It was right there. He thought his purpose was to work for the benefit of pokemon. He had spent all of his life preparing a plan, thinking that he would help to improve pokemon's lives, but everything was an illusion. His whole life was an illusion. He was just a tool, a puppet manipulated by Ghetsis. Was that really his only purpose?

"N! N! N, are you okay?" Touko ran to him. "N, N..." She crouched in front of him and looked at his face. It was devoid of any emotion. The smile from when he talked to pokemon, the glint in his eyes from when he told her something he was enthusiastic about, the determination that he showed before their battle, the calm expression that he had when talking to her after accepting defeat... Everything was gone. Not even a trace of anything. His face was pale, devoid of hope, almost devoid of life. "No! N! N, say something. Please talk to me! Please! Please..."

Ghetsis was starting to recover from his fit of rage, only then remembering that Touko was there. In his outburst, he had revealed all of his plans in front of her! He looked in the direction where the girl in question was. "Hmph! Do you really think that you can get through to him? He is nothing more than a warped, defective boy, who knows nothing but pokemon! He is like a pokemon trapped in a human body, a freak without a human heart!"

"Ghetsis! What... What did you do to him! ? You're a monster! Y-you're the one without a heart!" Touko stood up shakily. Her anger and her fear were mixing up and she didn't know what she was feeling anymore. She wanted to do something, but she also wanted to run. "Aaaaaaah!" She screamed in despair, deciding to do what seemed easier. She tried to run for the door, but Ghetsis interrupted her.

"Where do you think you are going?"

Touko saw that he was looking her on the eye and flinched, stopping on her tracks.

Ghetsis spoke in a menacing tone. "Now you know the truth. You don't think that I would allow you to run around and spread it to everyone, do you?"

Touko was frozen in fear, unable to hold Ghetsis' gaze.

"But you have come this far," he continued. "I will give you one more chance. Let us have a battle. If I win, you will have to stay in this castle for the rest of your life, working for Team Plasma, as my servant."

"I... I would never work for you!"

"You should. My plans have not changed. I will still have N be the king of Team Plasma and manipulate the hearts of the people who know nothing. All pokemon will be separated from their trainers, I will be the only one able to use pokemon, and then I will rule Unova. What a better person to work for than the region's ruler? If you go against that, you will be against me. Opposing the region's ruler won't take you very far, I assure you. If you do that, things will probably end badly for you, sooner than you expect."

"And if I win..."

"If, and only **if** you win, you will be allowed to go. But you must keep your mouth shut, because you will be constantly watched, and if I discover that you told anything to anyone... It won't be pretty. Do you understand?"

Touko didn't answer.

"So, are you going to fight or not? It is the only chance that you have. **If** you win, you will have the closest to freedom that you can get. You aren't going to waste this opportunity, are you? Remember, if you don't fight, it will count as your defeat." He didn't wait for an answer and threw a poke ball. "Then, let us start our battle. Go, Seismitoad!"

Ghetsis' pokemon appeared on the battlefield, but Touko was still paralyzed. She didn't know what to think. She was scared because of the previous battle, scared of Ghetsis, and also enraged after discovering what that man put N through. She had to do something, she had to reach for a poke ball of her own, but her hands didn't move.

"So you aren't even able to throw a simple poke ball? How pathetic. To think N would lose to you, that useless brat..." Ghetsis said as though N wasn't there.

Touko opened her mouth, but was unable to say anything. Unexpectedly, one of her poke balls opened on its own.

"... Mo... Monica?" Touko was really surprised. Monica got scared easily, always hiding behind her, or going back to the poke ball whenever entering a battle or being introduced to someone. Touko didn't expect the Munna to be the one standing up for her. And if Monica was able to surpass her fear at that time, Touko should also be. With that thought, the girl finally gathered the courage to issue commands. "O-Okay... Monica, let's do this."

The Munna stepped forward, but when she took a closer look at her opponent, her courage disappeared. She screamed and started running in circles desperately.

"Hmph." Ghetsis snickered. Nor the trainer nor the pokemon were in condition to fight. That battle would be a piece of cake, He was sure of that.

"Ah! Monica! ... Concentrate, and use Calm Mind!"

Monica did as said and finally calmed down.

"Sludge Wave." Ghetsis ordered.

Monica was hit by the attack, and luckily she didn't get poisoned.

"Great! Now use Energy Ball!"

A green ball appeared in front of Monica and was shot towards the Seismitoad. The attack was super effective and the toad pokemon fainted.

Ghetsis widened his eyes in disbelief. Seeing the two's scared state, it was hard to believe that the girl and that Munna could defeat one of his pokemon. But it was just the beginning, and Ghetsis had the perfect pokemon to deal with that Munna. "Go, Cofagrigus!"

Touko flinched once more, seeing the menacing sarcophagus like pokemon that came out of Ghetsis' poke ball. Her pokemon's reaction was very similar.

"Mean Look." Ghetsis said.

Monica wanted to run back to her poke ball as she usually did, but the look that the Cofagrigus gave her left her paralyzed in fear.

"Shadow Ball."

"Monica, move!"

Monica had the Forewarn ability, so she knew that the Shadow Ball was coming, and even when it would hit, but she was unable to move and received the attack fully. She screamed in agony, fainting afterwards.

"No! Monica!" Touko shakily pressed the poke ball's button to call her Munna back, then she sent out Takimaru.

The Dewott came from the ball and glared at Ghetsis. Then, he looked at Touko reassuringly and nodded to her.

"Right... Takimaru, Water Pulse!"

"Cofagrigus, use Toxic."

Takimaru moved first and hit the opponent with a strong pulse of water. The sarcophagus pokemon was violently thrown diagonally, collided with a wall, spun on the air and finally fell to the ground. He shakily stood up, dizzy and confused, unable to tell left from right. He tried to execute his trainer's order and use Toxic, only to release the attack on himself and get badly poisoned.

"What! You useless pokemon!" Ghetsis shouted in rage, then breathed deeply and tried to regain his composure. "Change of tactics. Use Shadow Ball, now!"

"Water Pulse again!" Touko commanded.

"Dodge it!"

Another Water Pulse came. The ghost type pokemon tried to dodge, but still confused, he stumbled and fell. He was hit squarely by the attack and was out of combat.

"Useless pokemon." Ghetsis recalled the Cofagrigus back and threw another ball, from which came a Bouffalant. "Head Charge."

"Takimaru, dodge!"

The Dewott tried to sidestep the attack, but was unable to move away in time.

"Takimaru!" Touko called worriedly, seeing her pokemon trying to stand.

The attack was powerful, but Takimaru wouldn't give up. He stood up and gave Touko another determined look, signaling that he was fine. Then, by the opponent's typing and the current situation, he already knew what she would say.

"Revenge!"

Takimaru ran at a high speed, furiously striking the opponent with his shells. The Bouffalant wasn't fast enough to avoid the Dewott's relentless attack. At the end of it, the buffalo pokemon roared in pain and fell to the ground, in no condition to continue fighting.

"I don't believe it..." Ghetsis muttered to himself while he called his pokemon back. The Bouffalant knew Wild Charge, an electric type attack that could have dealt with the water pokemon easily, but Ghetsis underestimated Touko and her pokemon, and thought that Head Charge would suffice. He regretted not using an electric attack, and he would remedy that then. "Go, Eelektross!"

"Takimaru, Water Pulse!"

"Thunder Wave."

The Water Pulse hit, but it wasn't enough to defeat the Eelektross, who released the Thunder Wave and left Takimaru paralyzed.

"Wild Charge."

Sparks enveloped the Eelektross, who slammed with full force into Takimaru. The Dewott couldn't endure the attack and fell. The electric type also received a bit of recoil damage.

"Takimaru!" Touko called in vain as her pokemon was already unconscious. She returned him to his ball and sent another pokemon. "Hardy, help!"

The Crustle appeared from the poke ball, eager for a battle.

"Wild Charge." Ghetsis ordered again.

The Crustle made his best to endure it by protecting himself with his shell, and the Eelektross received yet more recoil damage.

"Bulldoze!"

Hardy stomped on the ground and made it shake, but the opponent was floating and the attack had no effect.

"How foolish! It won't work. Eelektross has the Levitate ability! I can't believe that someone who doesn't even know a simple fact like that was able to defeat the Elite Four." Ghetsis mocked her.

Touko gritted her teeth. "Then, Smack Down!"

Her pokemon retrieved a rock that he kept inside his shell and threw it at the Eelektross, who fell to the ground.

"Now use Bulldoze!"

This time, the attack worked. It was super effective, the damage added to Takimaru's Water Pulse and the recoils from Wild Charge, and Ghetsis had one more pokemon down. "Grrrr! Go, Bisharp. Iron Head."

"... Hardy... ..." Touko was unable to think of a strategy in time. Her pokemon was hit by a powerful headbut from Ghetsis' Bisharp and fell unconscious. Touko started to panic. She only had one pokemon left (actually two, but Corona was too young and still couldn't fight). Considering type advantages, she would have to count on Junka. She called Hardy back and threw Junka's poke ball. "Brick Break!"

Junka performed the move swiftly and precisely. The Bisharp couldn't avoid the attack and was taken down in an instant.

Ghetsis bit his lip. He made the mistake of underestimating his opponent, and that cost him three pokemon. By his fourth one, he began fighting seriously, but it wasn't enough. Just a few instants later, he had only one pokemon left. Very few people faced him in battle, and even fewer posed a challenge. He just didn't expect that such a frail and insecure girl would be one of them. If his last pokemon didn't manage it, the battle would be over. He would lose, but the result of the fight didn't matter. When someone battled him, it usually involved a deal. He always won, and most times, it was not due to his battle skills. Deceiving and manipulating people was what he did best. On the other hand, manipulating pokemon and making them produce exactly the results that he wanted, wasn't so easy. The truth, which not many knew, was that he wasn't so strong of a trainer. But he was aware of the limits. He knew that his team wasn't strong enough to fulfill his ambitions. That was why he wanted to be the only one able to use pokemon. And while that didn't happen, he would do what he always did when someone proved to be stronger than him in battle. Even if he lost, he would break his part of the deal. "Go, Hydreigon."

Touko flinched. She thought she had enough of dragons already. And to top it off, this one had three heads, each one more menacing than the other, essentially being three dragons in one. "Junka, d-do you think y-you can do it?"

The Mienshao nodded.

"Then, Brick Break!"

The opponent was fast for a pokemon of that size, but Junka managed to score a hit. Hope returned to Touko's eyes as Ghetsis' pokemon took considerable damage and recoiled in pain. Hydreigon was dragon and dark typed, being weak to fighting type attacks. After that super effective Brick Break, she knew that the pokemon wouldn't last much.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Junka, hold on!"

In the rage of the battle, no one noticed what was happening at the other side of the room. No one saw the black legendary dragon regaining consciousness. Zekrom never felt so enraged before. His fights against Reshiram, ideals against truth, happened for many generations, but it always ended in a draw. He wanted to finally settle the score this time. At that moment, he felt that Ghetsis was more compatible with his ideals than the hero that he had to work with. N was useless. The boy understood pokemon and was much closer to them than most other heroes that came before him. Zekrom had thought that it could be an advantage. By contrast, the girl, the other hero, was so frightened that she couldn't even give instructions to her pokemon. And yet, the unthinkable happened. He lost to Reshiram. He was still tired from the battle, but his movements were slowly coming back. Suddenly, in a fit of rage, he decided. He would kill the Hero of Truth.

No one was expecting the powerful Fusion Bolt that came from a corner of the room. The sudden energy buildup made Reshiram wake up on high alert. She was still very tired and weakened. She tried to enter the attack's range to intercept it, but it was too late. Fortunately, the attack missed its intended target, but half of a wall behind the trainers exploded into pieces, causing the place to shake and concrete fragments of various sizes to fall. Only one person noticed as a big piece of the wall was about to hit Touko. In a desperate effort, N quickly jumped to his feet and dashed towards her. Everything was moving very fast, only for him it seemed to be in slow motion.

"I may not have a purpose... But I know that you do!" He thought while running. "You can't end here... Touko! Once, you said that you have a dream. Then make it come true! You can do it! And for that... You must live!" N shoved the girl out of the way. "I wished that things could be different... That we could finally become friends..." No one saw it, but N gave his last smile before he was hit and lost under a mass of concrete twice his size.

It was so fast. Touko didn't know what had happened. One moment, she was instructing her pokemon. The next, there was an explosion and shrapnel flying everywhere, then she was hit by something and fell to the floor. She sat up and looked around, trying to understand what was going on. Part of the wall behind her didn't exist anymore, and various huge pieces of concrete littered the floor. There was a very big one just some feet away from her. Then it dawned on her that she had narrowly avoided it.

"No..." Her voice came out in a whisper, as she inspected the concrete more closely and saw some green hair appearing from under it. "N... N! N!"

She asked Junka to take the concrete out... And screamed. N lay on the floor, in a pool of his own blood. He had been completely crushed. His face was warped beyond recognition and his body had many parts broken. There was no way that he could still be alive.

"Hmph. Really useless. His life was worth nothing." It was Ghetsis who spoke.

Touko was about to faint, but she completely regained her senses when she heard that voice. She knew that she shouldn't wish for the death of anyone, but the first thought she had was that it was not fair. Why did it have to be N, the pure, kind and innocent N, the one to die? Why Ghetsis, that despicable man that abused pokemon and people alike, was still standing?

"Shut up! You... You...!"

"How dare you tell me to shut up?!" Ghetsis snapped. "I can't stand you anymore, kid. Hydreigon, kill her."

Ghetsis gave that order like it was the most normal of tasks, and by the bloodlust showing in the pokemon's eyes, one could tell that it wasn't the first time that he took someone's life.

Touko was frozen to the spot once again. Ghetsis broke all the rules. That wasn't a pokemon battle anymore. That day, Touko was sure that she would be killed by a dragon type pokemon. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.

* * *

Half of a minute before, at the other side of the room...

"Zekrom... Do you have any idea of what you did? You... You killed your own charge!"

"Hmph. I Actually wanted to kill yours, but it doesn't matter. He was useless anyway." Zekrom had so much hatred in his eyes, and spoke in a tone so disdainful that it was hard to believe that him and Reshiram once were one being.

"Lord Arceus won't like it, not even a little." She warned. "Do you want to end up like Kyurem?!"

"Kyurem? How dare you! That thing that cannot even speak, nor feel, nor think for that matter... That has no truth nor ideals, and is a being with only instincts and pure destruction! Don't compare me to that insignificant piece of nothing!"

Zekrom was ready to throw a Dragon Claw at Reshiram's face. She saw it coming. Both were still tired, their movements were much slower compared to before, but they were as ready as they could be. The battle between the two dragons was about to start again when both heard Ghetsis' order.

"Hydreigon, kill her."

"Grrr! No, you won't! **I** will be the one to kill her!" Zekrom turned away from Reshiram and aimed his claws at Hydreigon.

"No! I won't let any of you touch her!" Reshiram positioned herself in a way that she could aim at both Hydreigon and Zekrom at the same time, then released a Dragon Pulse with all her might.

Before Hydreigon could get to his target, he was caught by surprise by Zekrom, who was Still set in killing his rival's hero. The black legendary came in a flash from the other side of the room, hitting Hydreigon with a Dragon Claw. Before Zekrom could release the next attack in Touko's direction, he was hit by a Dragon Pulse from Reshiram. Zekrom was violently dragged by it, and along with a portion of the attack, slammed into Hydreigon. Both crashed into one of the still standing walls and ruined the throne room even more. It didn't do as much damage as the Fusion Bolt from before, but pieces of concrete fell once again, and this time, one of them hit Ghetsis.

Soon after expending all her strength on that attack, Reshiram passed out from exhaustion. Before unconsciousness took hold of her, the only thing she could do was wish for Touko to be safe.

Suddenly, all was silent. Touko didn't dare to open her eyes. She had no idea of what could have happened. By the sounds of destruction, surely things got uglier. Someone else could have died. Maybe a pokemon. Or maybe even Ghetsis... Even after thinking he should have died instead of N, the thought of someone dying, even if it was a heartless person like Ghetsis, did not appeal to her even a little. Inadvertently, the image of N's deformed body flashed in her mind, then she couldn't take it anymore and fainted.

* * *

A/n: this chapter took so, so much time, and was very hard to write, mainly because I wasn't sure of what to do about the battle against Ghetsis.

And here is it. THE character death that I warned you about in the notes before Chapter 1 (it's also mentioned in the summary, by the way). But remember that I also said there would be a character rebirth of sorts? (it's also in the summary) Yes, N will be back, although in slightly different circumstances (and no, he won't be reborn as a pokemon). There'll be a few chapters before that, but he **will** come back.

Some differences from the games:

* I couldn't come up with an explanation for N's special ability to heal pokemon, so I had to do it in another (more "normal") way (berries).

* In the games, the Forewarn ability can't predict which attack is coming nor when it will hit. It only reveals the opponent's strongest moves.

* In the games, it isn't possible for a confused pokemon to poison itself with Toxic, but I thought it would be a funny twist to that dark and serious moment :P.

Moves:

* Munna learns Energy Ball via TM.

* Ghetsis' Eelektross doesn't have it, but Eelektross learns Thunder Wave via TM.

* Ghetsis' Bisharp doesn't have it, but Bisharp learns Iron Head at level 57.

Update (2013/06/07): I turned N and Touko's last conversation into an audio drama, but in Japanese! Those who like watching anime with Japanese audio (subtitled or otherwise), may find it interesting (or not XD). You can listen to it at the following link (remove spaces):

gobblin . se / u / aiyumi / m / psl-ch004-true-plans

It begins with N talking to Touko after the battle, then Ghetsis appears and reveals his true plans, snatches N's pokemon and throws him aside. There are no subtitles, but the dialogue is basically the same as in this story (or at least it's the closest that I managed to translate...). The difference is that there isn't a narrator, so one of the characters must describe the happenings in his/her thoughts so the listener isn't left in the dark... And that's about it. I think it turned out pretty good, and I hope to make more of these in the future!


	5. Grief

A/n: this was supposed to be in the previous chapter, but it was becoming too long and I decided to split it. I'm not fully satisfied with this chapter yet, but I want to get this serious part over with.

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 5: Grief

Zekrom tried to move. It was hard and painful. He was sure that he could survive the damage, but there was something strange happening. His strength was fading in a peculiar way. Remembering how things happened at other times, he knew what that meant. It was the end. Reshiram was right when she said that Arceus wouldn't like what happened, and the god pokemon himself, or maybe some of the other higher-ups, was calling him back.

"I cannot end here..." Zekrom tried to cling to that thought, but he couldn't get hold of consciousness. His body turned into the Dark Stone again, and his soul drifted towards Arceus' Realm.

* * *

Everything was still silent when Reshiram opened her eyes. She was still very weak after expending all of her strength to stop Zekrom and Hydreigon. She tried to get up, but her body was shaking and didn't obey her, making her fall back. She waited a few seconds and breathed deeply, then lifted her head to assess her surroundings. She noticed that everyone in the room was unconscious. Zekrom had run out of strength and had reverted back to the Dark Stone, almost lost in the middle of the pieces of concrete. It meant that the battle was over, and that her rebellious brother hopefully wouldn't disturb anyone for many years to come. His soul was probably back to Arceus' Realm by now. A bit more relieved, she turned her attention to Touko. The girl seemed fine, apparently nothing had hit her. But a bit further to Touko's left, laid a pile of concrete where N's disfigured body was. A wave of guilt washed over Reshiram, making her head fall back to the previous position. She closed her eyes and didn't see one of Touko's poke balls opening.

"Touko! Touko!" It was Corona's voice.

"She's fine," Reshiram said weakly.

"Shira! Is that you?" The Larvesta hopped away from Touko and came closer to Reshiram.

"Yes."

"Wow! You're big..." Corona ran around the dragon to take a better look. "Big and strong! You protected Touko like you promised!"

"I did everything I could. She's safe. But... I couldn't save him..." Reshiram's tone was sad, and her voice was weak.

"Touko's friend?"

"Yes."

Corona jumped on to Reshiram and began caressing her feathers, trying to comfort her. Both stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Shira, when we get out of here, you're coming with us?"

"I hope to."

"Then, I want you to teach me some attacks, so I can protect Touko too!"

"I'll see about that." Reshiram gave the little pokemon a "smile".

"Okay, I'll be waiting!"

"Hmmm..." Touko opened her eyes. She groggily sat up and looked around. She screamed seeing Corona with one of the dragons. "Aaaaaaaah! Corona! C-come back here!"

"Touko! You woke up!" The Larvesta jumped off Reshiram and ran back to her trainer.

"Corona! Don't wander away like that!" Touko hugged the little pokemon. "It's still dangerous, so stay in your poke ball until we get out of here, okay?" She didn't wait for an answer and pressed the poke ball's button to call Corona back.

Ghetsis also woke up. Trying to sit up, he grunted in pain. One of his legs was broken, hit by a piece of concrete. He looked around and saw his Hydreigon unconscious near a broken wall. Only then it dawned on him that he had lost. "No! This can't be! ... I created Team Plasma! I am perfection! This... Can't be happening...!"

"... What... What happened here?" A voice came from near the door.

"Oh!" Ghetsis looked at the door and saw some Plasma grunts and a Sage entering. "Rood! You arrived in exactly the perfect time!"

_Oh no..._ Touko thought. If they were there, it probably meant that the gym leaders weren't able to handle them. If she had to battle them, only Junka was still able to fight. What should she do? Or better yet, what could she do?

"Yes, you are right. This is the perfect time. The time to end this once and for all." The Sage gestured for someone to enter.

"Wh-who are you?" Ghetsis stuttered, confused.

"Me? Oh, yes. Although I know who you are, I forgot that you don't know who I am... My name is... No, I shall inform you only of my codename. My codename is Looker, and I am from the International Police. Sorry to inform you, but you are under arrest, Ghetsis."

"What! ? Why...?" Ghetsis looked bewildered as three more policemen came through the door. "No! No! No! Traitors!" He shouted at Rood and the grunts while he struggled, trying to escape from the policemen attempting to handcuff him.

With widened eyes and mouth agape, Touko looked at the people entering the room. Following the Plasma grunts and police officers, came Alder and Cheren.

Cheren looked around, taking in the warzone that became of what should have been the throne room. He knew that N was with Zekrom, though apparently neither of those two were there as only Reshiram could be seen. The dragon was very similar to how she was depicted in the research books that he had read. Turning to his right, he saw Touko sitting on the ground and approached her. "Touko, are you alright?"

"... Cheren... ... I... I'm fine."

"Can you stand?" He helped her to stand up.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Cheren and the gym leaders defeated them in battle." The Champion answered her. "Various Plasma members, including the other Sages, were arrested. The ones that are here surrendered and promised to tell everything that they know about Team Plasma's schemes."

"Hydreigon! Hydreigon! Do something! Stand up and help me now! It's an order!" Ghetsis called his unconscious pokemon in vain, running around and jumping on one leg, still trying to escape from the police officers. "Argh!" He shouted in pain when he accidentally put much weight on his broken leg. He avoided a pair of hands that grabbed for him, but another pair was able to take his belt where he had various poke balls, including the ones that he had snatched from N. The police returned the Hydreigon to the poke ball before the violent creature decided to wake up, and the small pursuit continued.

"The battle against N..." Cheren addressed Touko, choosing to turn his attention away from Ghetsis. "You won, didn't you?"

"... Not really. I didn't do anything. It was Reshiram."

He glanced once more at the other side of the room, where the big white dragon was.

Reshiram was laying on the ground, still very tired. With eyes half open, she tried to see the events unfolding inside the room. Noticing that she was being watched, she slightly raised her head and fully opened one eye to take a better look. It was Touko's glasses wearing friend. They made eye contact, and unlike Touko, he had no reaction whatsoever. Aside from the heroes, most humans respected or feared her, so being looked at with a neutral expression was nice for a change. That made her want to smile... But he turned away, and she didn't see when something strange flickered briefly in his eyes.

Cheren took back what he had thought. It wasn't exactly like in the books. When they made eye contact, he felt something unusual, like an intense, powerful energy emanating from Reshiram. It was overwhelming. He had to break eye contact and turn away. It was too difficult to hold her gaze and still maintain his cool expression. So that was the power of a legendary pokemon. Something grandious that one needed to be there in person to feel. He would never be able to experience that only through books. He was jealous of Touko. He had studied so much and trained so hard, striving to be the best, yet it was her who got help from a legendary... Suddenly, he was brought back to attention by a yell from Ghetsis, who tripped on a piece of concrete and had finally been restrained.

"No! You cannot arrest me! What do you say I have done! ?"

"Let's see..." Looker took some notes from his pocket. "Exploitation of minors, violence against minors, pokemon theft, just to name a few."

"Yeah, that's right!" Touko shouted. "I saw it! It was here... I saw what he did... To..." She thought about how the man had treated N, then what happened to the boy afterwards, and tears formed in her eyes. She swallowed, trying to forget what happened to N for a moment and focus on what she was saying. "He even... Threatened me too..."

"Hmph!" Ghetsis snickered. "You don't have any proof!"

"It happened here, yes?" Looker turned to her. "Then, if we check the security cameras..."

Ghetsis looked at the marks and holes on the walls, where the security cameras once were. "'Sorry to inform you'," he said mockingly at Looker. "but there are no security cameras."

"Yes, there are. Or at least, there should be one," a woman's voice was heard from the door's direction. It was Concordia. She entered the room, followed by Anthea.

"Excuse me." Anthea approached Touko. "Can I borrow your hat for a moment?"

"... Huh? Hm." She nodded.

The woman took Touko's hat and pulled a small object that was glued to it, then put the hat back on the girl's head. "Here." She gave the small device to one of the policemen, then turned to Touko again while the men fiddled with the device and their laptops. "Actually, Rood was planning to report Ghetsis crimes for a long time." Anthea spoke in a low voice. "He had asked us to help, but we didn't know what to do. That was when we saw you wandering the corridors. Seeing the look in your eyes, we were sure that you would convince N. When that happened, N would probably confront Ghetsis and make him slip. It would be the perfect moment to be registered and shown to the police... Then I had the idea of giving you a camera somehow. Remember when I bumped into you and dropped your hat? That time, I had attached a small camera to it before returning it to you." After a brief pause, she added. "We know that the burden was too heavy for you, and we are sorry. Sorry for putting you through all this..."

Touko didn't say anything. She was breathing deeply, trying to hold her tears. She saw Concordia looking around, then approaching her with a worried expression.

"Touko... Where is N?" Concordia asked cautiously, noticing the green haired boy's absence, as well as the sadness in the girl's eyes.

After that question, Touko couldn't hold her tears anymore. "N... N's... He... He's dead." She said between sobs. "I... I'm the one who's sorry. I said I would... Save him... But I couldn't... I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry, I'm... Sorry..."

At first, Anthea's and Concordia's expression only darkened a bit. A few seconds later, it finally sank in and tears escaped their eyes as well.

The policemen had connected the device to a laptop and a video was showing on the screen. They forwarded the video until the part where Ghetsis appeared.

"Do you still think that you deserve to share the name Harmonia with me?" The screen showed Ghetsis punching N in the face and shouting. "... I adopted you. I raised you, training you to be Team Plasma's 'king'. I only showed you suffering pokemon to strengthen your ideals so you could get close to Zekrom, then conquer the League and make everyone in Unova release their pokemon, so that I would be the only one that could use pokemon and rule the region. But no, you had to lose to an ordinary trainer!"

All color drained from Ghetsis' face. Everything that he had said impulsively at that time... It was all recorded. There was nothing that he could say to defend himself.

But the video wasn't over. It showed a close up of N's motionless form as Touko tried to talk to him, then it showed Ghetsis threatening her before the battle.

"It's enough proof already, yes?" Looker motioned to the man with the laptop, signaling him to stop the video.

"... W-wait!" Touko shouted. She fought her sobs in order to speak. "... A-actually... There's s-something that happened later... It was so f-fast... And I didn't understand how it happened..."

"Alright," Looker said. "Fast forward, then."

They forwarded the video until it showed the scenery shaking violently and shrapnel was flying everywhere.

"There! Stop!" Touko said.

They rewinded the video a little to take a better look. As Touko had pointed out, it was really fast, so they had to replay it in slow motion. Everyone could see a powerful electric type attack (from the direction, it was probably from Zekrom) zooming dangerously close and hitting something past the camera's limits, then there was the explosion, pieces of concrete flew all over the place, N came running with determination in his eyes, then the image shook violently and the angle changed when he pushed Touko away from the big object that was about to hit her.

Touko had thought she would faint again after seeing the events with so much clarity. The angle wasn't very good, but it was in slow motion and she was able to see the wide smile that N gave in his final moments. Her heart tightened. Why? After N was told of how he was being controlled by Ghetsis, when she tried to talk to him, he had a blank expression, seeming as if he had been drained of all emotion. But when the tragedy occurred, his emotion came back. He could have shown doubt after what had happened to him, or displayed anger toward Ghetsis, but out of all things, he smiled, and it was to her.

"So... That's... That's how it happened..." Touko spoke in a low voice. "Ze... Zekrom k-killed him... And N... He... Saved me..."

The people present in the room had varied reactions. Some Plasma grunts cried, others were paralyzed with gaping mouths, Concordia and Anthea cried more, Rood and even Alder showed solemn expressions. The only ones that didn't react were Ghetsis because he didn't care, the policemen because they were used to violent scenes, and Cheren because he wasn't a very emotive person to begin with, and also because he didn't know N too wel like most of the others present there.

Sure that it was what they were looking for, the officers stopped the video. No one saw the part where Reshiram used all of her strength to save Touko from Hydreigon and Zekrom.

A few tense minutes followed.

"Well, I think this settles it, yes?" Looker broke the silence.

Many people quietly nodded.

"Traitors..." Ghetsis finally found his speech again. "Even you..." He looked accusingly towards Anthea and Concordia. "I was the one who found you when you were homeless. I gave you a new home. I bought you all the things that you could possibly want. I raised you. Still, how did you dare to do this to me! ?"

Both women were a bit calmer. Their crying had mostly subsided, though their eyes were still full of sadness.

Anthea was the first one to speak. "You gave us food and shelter, keeping us alive for all this time, and we are grateful for that. But remember what you said when you invited us to live in this castle?"

"You asked us if we would like to come with you." Concordia added. "You said that we would have a new home, that we could finish our basic education and also enter college if we wanted to... And that we would be given everything needed to do what we think is right."

"And that is what we are doing. What we think is right." Anthea finished.

"Talking time is over, Ghetsis," a policeman said, dragging him away.

Some policemen came to help get Ghetsis out of the room, while others worked to remove N's body that now they knew was there.

"What's this?" One of the men took something from the pile of concrete.

"Ah! It's the Dark Stone!" Champion Alder exclaimed. "Hand it to me, I will return it to Dragonspiral Tower, where it belongs."

"Right." The policeman did so.

Touko shivered, giving the stone a repulsive look as if it were cursed.

People began going out of the room.

"Touko." Sage Rood approached her. "Thanks to you, we could finally put an end to Ghetsis' plan. Thank you, and I am sorry for everything that you had to face."

"No, I... I didn't..."

A policeman motioned hurriedly, and Rood had to follow. "I have to go now. Farewell, and take care."

"Wait, I..." Touko wanted to stop him and say something, to make it clear that she didn't do anything special. When she took a step forward, she almost tripped on something. She crouched to examine it, and her eyes widened. It was the cube shaped puzzle that N always carried. Surprisingly, aside from some scratches, it was mostly intact. "... This is..."

"Oh! That's N's..." Concordia came back inside.

Touko would hand the object to Concordia, but the woman pushed it back. "Keep it."

"... But..." That wasn't right. Touko barely knew N. Anthea and Concordia knew him since his childhood. They should be the ones to keep it.

"I am sure that N would like if you had it."

Touko would insist, but Anthea was near the door and signaled for Concordia to get outside.

"We have to go," Concordia said. "We still have information to supply to the police. Touko, once again, thank you."

Concordia left, not giving Touko time to protest. Alder and Cheren had also left and were outside talking to the police. It meant that Touko was alone in the room. Alone with Reshiram, that is. She reluctantly approached, keeping some distance. The white dragon was now sitting on the ground, severely weakened, but still very intimidating. Aside from the size, there was a powerful aura emanating from her. A hot power that Touko feared would explode at the smallest provocation.

"... Reshiram," Touko said in a shaky voice.

It was the first time that Touko addressed her directly. Reshiram slowly turned her head to acknowledge the call, deciding to not make abrupt movements so as not to scare her. Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as expected. Touko took a step back in fear when Reshiram faced her.

"... What are you still doing here? You... You g-got what you wanted. You d-defeated Zekrom. You can go." Touko said while trying to avoid eye contact.

"... What?" Reshiram widened her eyes in confusion. Her action made Touko take another step back. Trying to rectify that, she lowered her head, like an animal being scolded. The problem was that due to her size and the fear that Touko had of her, it didn't work. Reshiram didn't know what to do. Thinking for a moment, she had an outline of an idea, although she was unsure of how to put it into practice. She slowly eyed Touko's belt where the poke balls were. There was no doubt that many trainers would do anything it took in order to catch a legendary pokemon. If she could at least convince the girl to throw a poke ball at her... Touko didn't even need to battle her. Just a poke ball... It didn't need to be an Ultra Ball, nor a Great Ball, nor anything with special sounding names. If Touko threw the simplest of poke balls, she would enter it willingly, and would happily stay in it. But how could Reshiram convince her? Unable to come up with any good idea, she closed her eyes tightly in frustration.

Touko didn't get the message. Seeing the dragon glaring at her, she flinched again. What if Reshiram viewed her as an insignificant creature unworthy of even pretending to be a hero and decided to attack her? A few seconds passed, but for Touko it seemed to last an eternity. The legendary's gaze was still on her. She didn't dare to move. But as soon as she noticed that Reshiram closed her eyes, Touko decided not to waste her opportunity. It could be her only chance of getting out of there alive. She slowly took one more step back, then another, and another... Then suddenly she turned behind and ran.

"Ah!" When Reshiram opened her eyes, the girl was already at the door. "No! Touko, wait!" Unable to think of anything else she could do, she simply pleaded. "I know that I failed. I couldn't save him... But if there's anything that I can do to make up for it, I will do it! So please, let me come with you! Touko... Please..."

But the girl was gone.

"No..." Reshiram whispered, paralyzed in shock. She was at a loss as what to do. It was the first time that one of the assigned heroes rejected her like that. She shakily stood up, deciding to follow Touko, but she was still very weak and her body didn't respond properly. After two steps, she lost her balance and fell. Getting up again was proving to be very difficult. Almost unable to move, Reshiram sighed deeply in resignation, allowing tears to fall.

* * *

Hearing the roars from the white dragon, Touko ran as fast as she could. She tumbled out of the room, and before she could fall on her knees, Alder caught her.

"Are you alright?" The champion asked.

"Hm." Touko just nodded.

Alder and Cheren helped to steady her, and the three silently walked through the corridors.

When they were finally out of the castle, the Champion put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Touko, I don't know if you are aware of this, but just now, you put an end to Team Plasma's plans of ruling over Unova, and prevented humans and pokemon from being separated. On behalf of all trainers in Unova, I give you my most sincere thanks. You were really brave, a true heroine."

"No, I'm not! I..." Touko was still shaking and trying to hold tears.

"Mister Alder, the reporters are coming." Cheren pointed at a group of people with the TV station emblem on their uniforms.

"Aaah!" Touko widened her eyes in panic. "No! I want to get out of here! And I don't want to be mentioned! Please!"

Alder thought for a moment. The girl seriously needed some cheering up. Putting her on the spotlight could open new horizons to her or, by the state she was in, it could make her feel worse. She had really saved the bonds between pokemon and trainers in Unova, and she deserved to be recognized. However, being regarded by everyone as the entire region's savior was too big of a responsibility, and she was clearly not ready to carry that much yet. "Is that what you really want?" He asked after he came to a conclusion.

"... Yes. Please, don't tell them anything about me."

"Right. If that's what you want, you have my word." Then he turned to Cheren. "Could you please accompany her to the Pokemon Center while I deal with them?"

Touko shook her head, speaking before he could answer. "No, I'm fine, I can go alone, You don't need to..." She knew that Cheren was trying hard to get some recognition, so she was sure that he would enjoy staying in the spotlight.

"No way." Cheren reprimanded her. "You're having difficulties even to walk! You can't be left alone like this..." He turned to face Alder. "So, Mister Alder, we're leaving."

"Right." Alder nodded. "Thank you, Cheren. For this, and for your help in stopping Team Plasma as well. You also did a great job."

* * *

Both teenagers walked in silence to the Pokemon Center. Once there, Cheren reserved a room for Touko. At the room, Touko left her bag on the ground and sat on the bed. Cheren sat on a chair and stayed there with her for a few minutes.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Touko answered, trying to make her voice come out as steady as she could.

"Then, I'm leaving." He stood up and walked out of the room. After closing the door halfway, he hesitated for a second and opened it again. "... I-if you need something... ... Call me," he said, although he was unsure of what he could do if she actually called.

"Huh? ... Thanks." Touko was a bit surprised as it was rare for him to show that level of concern, and she gave her first smile since getting out of Team Plasma's castle.

Soon after Cheren left, Touko couldn't hold her tears anymore. She laid on the bed, hugged a pillow and cried.

* * *

A/n: phew! This serious, Plasma dark (Plasdark for short) part is finally over!

I made Ghetsis break his leg so he can use that stick/cane/whatever from BW2 (yes, there'll be "BW2"ish things in this!). Making him jump on one leg to escape from the policemen was fun :P.

In the BW games, Zekrom and Reshiram are easier to catch than the other legendaries, probably because capturing them is mandatory to progress with the story (although I don't know if a simple normal poke ball can catch them). Here, Reshiram had already recognized Touko as the Hero of Truth, so she would let herself be caught easily. But Touko was so scared and didn't even think that there was such a possibility. Poor Reshiram...

The next chapter will have a bit of sadness because of Touko's current state, but it'll be more lighthearted and will have lots of fun parts because of her two childhood friends trying to cheer her up! So, stay tuned!


	6. Contrast

A/n: I'm back, with a new chapter and lots of things to talk about (nothing bad, don't worry!).

Thank you to everyone that followed/favorited, and KoldkrazyKyurem613, thank you for also reviewing. I was wondering if I would be able to make someone feel sorry for Reshiram, and it looks like the answer was "yes"! :D

Changing the subject a bit, I went back to chapter 1 and bumped Touko's age down from 16 to 14. Because of how time flows in this fic, I thought that the characters would end up growing too much (there won't be timeskips or anything, but I'm assuming that Touko's journey took around one year). It will be explained better on the story later. But now, just for reference, when the journey began, Touko and Bel were 14, Cheren was 15 and N was 16.

I also made an edit to chapter 4. I just inserted a small sentence into one of Ghetsis' lines. Before, it said:

"He is nothing more than a warped, defective boy, who knows nothing but pokemon! A freak without a human heart!"

And now, it says:

"He is nothing more than a warped, defective boy, who knows nothing but pokemon! He is like a pokemon trapped in a human body, a freak without a human heart!"

Actually, it was like this before I had uploaded the chapter and I removed the sentence for some reason, but I think this way it expresses better the meaning of what he was intending to say.

Still speaking of that chapter, remember the part where N talks to Touko, then Ghetsis appears and reveals his plans? Well, I made an audio drama version of that, but in Japanese! Check chapter 4's end notes for the link to it! I'm also thinking of making dramas from Reshiram's talk with Zekrom before their battle in chapter 3, or maybe also the battle...

And finally, chapter 6 (this one). It took time, but it was so fun to do! I'm really considering turning parts of it into Japanese audio drama as well, I think it'll be very fun too!

Now that the dark and serious parts are over, we enter the comical and emotional domain (which is really my area), and chapters tend to get longer (like this one!). Enough talk, let's get to it!

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 6: Contrast

The reporters came and interviewed Alder. He just said that "some very brave trainers" helped to stop Team Plasma. Himself and the gym leaders ended up taking most of the credit. He thought it wasn't fair, but a promise was a promise. Said trainers' efforts should be recognized, and he would have to think of another way to give them the recognition they deserved.

* * *

Cheren was reading a book when his xtransceiver rang.

"... Che-ren!" Bel shouted angrily over the xtransceiver, startling him and making him drop his book. "How can you read books calmly in a time like this, as if nothing was happening! ?"

Cheren had to put his xtransceiver a good distance away from his face. "Bel, please, stop shouting. I can hear you perfectly," he said, holding the phone on one hand and adjusting his glasses with the other.

The girl completely ignored his plea. "Last time we talked, you said that Touko was fine! I called her just now. She looked very tired, and she was crying! She said you had taken her to the Pokemon Center and left soon after. What kind of a friend are you! ? You should've stayed more, talked to her...!"

"She didn't seem to be in the mood to talk," he said in his defense.

Bel's angry expression intensified, and she shouted even more. "You should've helped her more, kept her company, you know!"

No. He didn't know. It was the first time that someone close to him got in a situation like that. He had no idea of what he could do to help, preferring to run away and hide in the comfort zone of his books.

"Touko needs friends by her side!" Bel continued. "So, I told her that we're going to visit her at the Pokemon Center tomorrow at 4 P.M..." Then her angry expression was instantly replaced by a sheepish one. "... So, Cheren, when it's 3 P.M., can you call me to make sure I'm on time?"

"What? First you schedule an appointment for me without even consulting me, then you want me to manage **your** time for you?"

"Hum..." She scratched her head. "Well, you see... You know how things are..."

The visit was already scheduled, and Touko would be waiting for them. He didn't have a choice. "Alright. I'll go there with you." He saw Bel's face lightening up and added. "But I won't monitor your time."

"Aww..." Bel looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Why don't you simply set your xtransceiver's alarm clock to 3 P.M.?"

"... Because the alarm clock can't know where I am to tell me if I can still arrive on time or not!"

"..." Cheren made an annoyed face.

"Uh... Please?" She insisted.

"No," he said firmly.

"... But we can't leave her waiting! It isn't nice!"

"You're aware of what can happen, and you also know that your lateness is a frequent problem. Why don't you do something to change? Your time management skills are terrible. You really should work to improve them!"

"Your social skills are worse! ..."

"..."

They began a staring contest over the xtransceiver.

"Please, just for this time!" Bel spoke half of a minute later.

He sighed. If he didn't concede, she would bother him for the rest of the day. "... Alright, fine. Just for this time. But promise me that you'll take your duties a bit more seriously after this."

"Okay!" She blurted out, apparently not thinking twice, or maybe not even once.

"Bel Blanco... !" He used her full name for emphasis, like he always did when he wanted to show that he was serious. "Did you at least think about what I said?"

"Hmm," she had a thoughtful expression for a few seconds. "yeah, I'll try to do something about it."

"You **must** promise."

" I promise." Bel gave a slight "bow".

"Good."

"Okay then. I'll hang up."

"Bel, wait. One more thing."

"Huh? What's it?"

"... Where are you now?" He asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

"I'm in Opelucid City. Why?"

"How do you plan to cross Victory Road? You still don't have all the badges. You can only pass through the gates to Victory Road with all badges, or if you're with someone that can enter..."

"Oh no!" Bel panicked, confirming Cheren's fears. "I completely forgot about that! I can't even go through the gates! Ah! What should I do? !"

Cheren said nothing. He had a thoughtful expression for a moment, then seeing Bel desperately pleading with her eyes, he breathed deeply, ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Alright, alright. I got it already. I'll go there to pick you up."

"... Really?"

He nodded resignedly.

"Thanks!" Bel grinned. "How long does it take to cross Victory Road?"

"Following the map that I made, it takes around an hour and a half on foot, or fifteen minutes with a flying pokemon. But you don't have a pokemon to fly with, do you? Unfezant can't fly two people at the same time."

"No."

"As I had thought. If you had one, you could just follow us, but..." He sighed in frustration. "Well, it will have to be on foot, then. And since it takes around an hour and a half, I'll call you at 2 P.M. instead of 3. Is that fine with you?"

"Yeah, it's set." She didn't give him time to say anything else. "Until tomorrow at 2 P.M., then!" She ignored the annoyed expression that he gave and hung up.

The call was over, and Cheren could finally go back to his studies. He retrieved the book that he was reading before, which he had dropped when he picked up the phone and was startled by Bel. "Argh. I can't believe this..." He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. He had lost the page.

* * *

Rood, Anthea, Concordia and some ex-plasma grunts finished supplying information to the police. The officers had taken N's poke balls from Ghetsis and left them in their care.

On the following morning, the group buried N's body in Lostlorn Forest, the place where he was found by Ghetsis before being taken to the castle. Humans and pokemon cried in silence for nearly half an hour.

"Well..." Rood spoke. "We have to think on what to do with our lives from now on, and so do you." He turned to the pokemon. "You are free to go now. You may continue living in the wild, or you may choose to get a new trainer... That's for you to decide."

The pokemon talked to each other and came to an agreement. Although the time they had spent with N was much shorter compared to the years that those humans spent with him, they knew that the boy was different, special, and they would miss him greatly. But they had to move on. Regardless of what happened, N had said that they would be released anyway. They did what they could to gesticulate their thanks to the group of humans, then went separate ways. The only pokemon that didn't leave were two from the same evolutionary line.

"No, it can't be true, it can't be..." The smaller one spoke between sobs.

"Unfortunately, it's true," the Zoroark said, trying to hide his sadness. He accompanied N since the boy's childhood, so he was having a harder time to accept it than the other pokemon. He also didn't want to believe it. He had spared Zorua from seeing the state of N's disfigured body, but he, along with the others, had seen it. N was dead, and that was the truth.

"No... N needs to come back! He still didn't give me a nickname..."

"He won't come back, Zorua."

"But..."

"I didn't want to say it this way, but it's true. You shouldn't live in the illusion. You have to accept the truth. He's dead and won't come back, but he still lives in our hearts and won't be forgotten. We must move on. N wanted us to be happy. He wouldn't like if we kept crying for the rest of our lives."

"He still lives in our hearts..." Zorua repeated, and a hint of hope appeared in his eyes. "Zoroark, do you think that dreams can come true?"

"Hm?" Zoroark looked at him questioningly.

"Once I heard some Sewaddles talking... One of them said that he had dreamed about a field full of rare berries, then he woke up surrounded by many of those berries! Do you think that if..."

"No, that's impossible." Zoroark cut in.

"But I didn't say it yet!"

"I know what you're thinking. You would ask if N could be brought back if you dreamed about him. I also heard a few rumors like these, but I never had any proof that they could be true. I'll say this again. He won't come back."

"But... The Sewaddle..."

"He could be making it up, just to impress the others. Zorua, stop believing in these illusions and face the reality!"

The little fox pokemon made a sad face and lowered his ears.

Zoroark noticed that the humans were starting to move. "They're leaving. I plan to stay with them for the time being, and you should come as well. Let's go."

Suddenly deciding that he couldn't give up so easily, Zorua lifted his head and walked determinedly after them. He would prove Zoroark wrong. He would make a dream come true, and bring N back.

* * *

Cheren got back to the beginning of Victory Road. He stopped outside the gate and checked the time on his xtransceiver. It was five minutes before two o'clock, and he decided. He would teach Bel a lesson on time management. He had said that he would call her at 2 P.M., so 2 P.M. it would be. He wouldn't give her even a one second break. He waited. Four minutes and fifty seconds went by. He looked intently at the digital clock and concentrated. 56, 57, 58... And when it was 1:59:59, he pressed the button. One second later, the call connected and Bel's phone rang when the clock marked exactly 2:00 P.M..

"Hello Cheren!" Bel's face appeared on the screen. "Wow! Amazing! Your call is showing exactly 2:00! See? That's why I left it up to you. I knew that I couldn't go wrong with it!"

He gritted his teeth in frustration. He had planned it so carefully, and in the end, it was exactly what she had expected. "Where are you?" He asked, doing his best to hide his frustration.

"I'm on Route 10 now. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for you near the gate."

"Great! So, I'll see you in a zap!" She hung up the call.

Cheren didn't need to wait much. Three minutes later, Bel came running towards him. As soon as he spotted her, he knew what would happen.

"Hiiiii Cheren!"

"Aaaaaaah!" He braced himself, but as always, he wasn't ready. Bel came at a high speed and tackled him in a hug, making him stumble backwards and collide with a wall.

It was like that since their childhood. Whenever Bel was away from her two friends and they met again, she came running and tackled them in a hug. It was the "Bel Tackle" as they decided to call it. Touko always took it in stride, but Cheren, on the other hand, was never fully prepared for it, usually losing his balance and falling or crashing into something.

"We don't meet in person for ages, isn't it?" Bel spoke after breaking the hug.

"Not really. Just two weeks. We last met before Touko and I got the eight badge."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes."

"But before we began our travels, the three of us saw each other every day, so two weeks is a lot." Bel adjusted her hat, then changed the subject. "... Anyway, today I'm on time, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are, surprisingly."

"Yeah, it's because I promised to a certain someone that I would try to improve!"

Cheren was quite surprised to hear that statement. His mouth involuntarily twitched into a half smile, which was a very rare sight. He sincerely hopped that Bel's more "responsible" attitude lasted long, but he had his doubts...

* * *

Touko spent the whole time in a room in the Pokemon Center. She wasn't in the mood to do anything, and cried for most of the time. She didn't eat, and despite feeling very tired, she didn't get any rest. Whenever she thought that sleep had taken her, she was haunted by nightmares about the final battle. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were red from crying and had bags under them from lack of sleep.

Touko finished combing her hair and put the comb back into her bag. Before closing the bag, she reached for one of the compartments and took out an object. It was a poke ball. But it wasn't just any ball. for her, it was a treasure. She had gotten it on her sixth year birthday, and it had the inscriptions "FRIENDS FOREVER", along with Bel and Cheren's "autographs", everything in their (mostly Bel's) childish writing glory. Touko gave a weak but genuine smile when the faces of her two best friends appeared on her mind. She started recalling their precious moments together, from the moment when they first met.

X:X:X:X:X

Actually, Touko wasn't born in Nuvema Town. She moved with her parents from Johto when she was four. Shortly after arriving, she was playing near her new home when someone bumped into her.

"Sooooorry!" The person who bumped into her, a blond girl around the same age as her, said. "... Huh? I never saw you before... Are you from here?"

"I came here today."

"... Oh! Yeah!" The girl's eyes lit up in realization. "My mom said that a family moved here today. She said that a little girl was with them, and that maybe we could be friends! So that's you! I'm Bel! What's your name?"

"Touko."

"Touko... Okay! How old are you?"

"Four."

"Cool! Me too! Oh! Wait here!" Without giving any explanation, Bel ran off. A minute or two later, she came running dragging a boy also around the same age as them. "Touko, this is Cheren."

The boy walked stiffly, probably very displeased of being dragged. He had an arrogant expression that didn't fit a child his age (he still didn't wear glasses at the time). Touko felt chills when he looked at her with that air of superiority.

"Nice to meet you." He spoke as if he didn't mean it, as if meeting her wasn't "nice" at all.

"... Hi..." She simply said.

"So Touko, where did you live before coming here?" Bel asked after releasing Cheren.

"... Johto."

"Johto? Is it a city?"

"Hmm..." Touko was unsure on what to say.

"No, it's another region." Cheren was the one to answer.

"Wow! See? Cheren is only one year older than us, but he's very smart! He knows a lot of things, and he can read too! Isn't that amazing?"

Touko didn't respond, and Cheren ignored the compliment as if it didn't mean anything.

"What city?" Bel continued the previous subject.

"Hmm... It was near the sea, and near a farm too..."

"Nice!" Bel said. "I never went to the sea before. I only saw it on TV. Living near it must be cool! What's the city's name?"

"... Ci... Cia something..."

"Cianwood City?" Cheren guessed.

"Y-yeah, I think that's it... Huh... ?" She flinched with the look that he gave her.

"What? You don't even know the name of the city where you lived?"

"... I... I... Ah... Aaaaaaaaaah!" Touko started crying.

"Touko!" Bel ran to her. "why are you crying? Are you okay?"

Touko didn't answer.

"Here you are." Touko's father came with his wife and the other two children's parents.

"Touko!" Her mother embraced her. "What happened? !"

Bel tried to explain. "We were talking... I asked where she lived before, and She couldn't answer and Cheren got angry because Touko didn't know the place's name, then she started crying..."

All adults turned to Cheren.

"Cheren..." His father gave him a stern look.

The boy kept his serious expression and didn't so much as flinch.

"Apologize, now." His mother demanded.

"I didn't do anything," he said, in a tone as serious as his parents'.

"Yes, you did," his mother said. "You did something, and it made her cry."

Everyone waited for his apology, but it didn't come. The boy only looked defiantly at his parents as though they were accusing him of something that he didn't do.

"Ah..." His mother sighed in exasperation, then went over to Touko and patted her on the head. "I'm sorry for what happened. My son is a little difficult..." She said, her eyes darting to the girl's parents as well, indicating that she was addressing the three.

"No problem." Touko's father answered.

Bel's mother approached. "We hope we can get along. Being your neighbors, we'll do anything to help. If you need something, just ask."

"Thank you," Touko's mother said.

"Cheren, come here. We need to talk." Cheren's father began walking, signaling him to follow.

The boy still had that defiant expression, and stubbornly refused to move, forcing his mother to grab him by the hand. The three walked away, leaving Touko's and Bel's families behind.

"... ... Aaaaah..." Touko kept crying in her mother's arms. "I want to get out of here. I w-want to g-go to the beach... And play with the p-pokemon... I... I want to go home..."

"Touko..." Her mother hesitated. She sighed deeply and said. "Now, here... Here is your home..."

That made Touko cry even more.

"Touko..." Bel approached.

"Look. Bel wants to talk to you." Her mother released her and gently pushed her towards Bel.

"Touko, don't cry," Bel said, hugging her. "Here we don't have a beach, and don't have many pokemon... But here's a very nice place. I like it here, and I want you to like it too... So, I promise that I'll play with you every day so you don't feel alone, okay?"

"Hm." Touko managed a nod.

"Great! Ahaha! Yuhoo!" Bel began jumping in circles, still holding Touko, who couldn't resist and finally laughed.

* * *

Thus, Touko's life in Nuvema Town began. A few days passed, and she had to admit that it wasn't so bad. There were some other kids in the town, but those two that she met on the first day were the ones she saw the most. Bel was cheerful, friendly and very nice, and their friendship started quickly. But the boy, Cheren, was completely the opposite. Serious and arrogant... Touko didn't like him at all. She thought she would never get along with him. The contrast between him and Bel was really glaring, like black ink on white paper. They were like water and oil, and shouldn't be able to mix. Yet, Bel always insisted on including him in their plays. Touko didn't want him to come, and he didn't as well, so it was probably better to leave him alone, but Bel kept insisting, and Touko couldn't understand why.

* * *

"Touko," Bel said one day. "I heard that next week there'll be a very very big party for the New Year, with nice music and fireworks!"

"My mom told me. It's the... Ac... Accumula... New Year Festival... Or something like that."

"Yeah! We're going to see it, and it'll be fun! I can't wait to see the fireworks!"

"Hum!" Touko nodded. After a bit of hesitation, she asked with fear in her voice. "... Is... Is Cheren coming too?"

"Of course!" Bel said enthusiastically, unaware of Touko's discomfort.

"Ah..." Touko sighed and lowered her eyes.

* * *

On the New Years eve, when the festival would be held, Accumula Town was bustling with music, chattering, and people running in all directions.

"Where are the fireworks? I want to see the fireworks!"

"Calm down, Bel," her mother said. "It's still early. The fireworks display is only at midnight."

"Aww..." Bel lowered her head and made a sad face.

They walked around the city, looking at the various stands with different sorts of goods, until they had to get through a narrow place that was very crowded, and Touko accidentally let go of her mother's hand, getting lost amongst the crowd and losing sight of her parents. She wandered around for some time - that for her lasted an eternity - and couldn't find them. Soon she was panicking. What if she didn't find her parents anymore? What if she couldn't go back home anymore? Touko cried, screamed and ran, even crossing some streets without paying any mind to the various cars that passed. A few people called and asked if she needed help, but she got past them too quickly and didn't pay attention. Thinking she was going too far, Touko tried to find her way back, but due to her lack of attention, she didn't remember the way. She ran nonetheless. It was the only thing that she could think of doing, but she couldn't advance much. Out of breath, she stopped. Her heartbeats were fast, she was tired and scared. She was about to cross another street when a voice came from her right.

"Touko!"

She turned to look. Crossing the street at her side was the person that she least wanted to meet. It was Cheren, and for whatever reason, he was alone. Why, out of all people, he had to be the one to meet her? Touko turned forward again and made to take a step.

"Stop!" Cheren came running and halted at her side. "The lights are red, so it's the cars' turn to pass. You need to wait until they get green! I don't believe you don't even know that..."

It was too much. Touko had the impression that he had come all the way there just to make fun of her. She started to cry again (although more quietly than before because she was too tired), and she thought she saw a glimpse of something (which later she would be able to identify as guilt) appearing on Cheren's face. Neither of them said anything until the lights turned green.

"The lights are green. Let's go." Cheren broke the silence and began walking. He turned back, noticing that Touko wasn't following. "Hey, come on..."

Touko just sobbed quietly and made no signs of moving. She flinched when Cheren unexpectedly took her by the hand.

"... Let's go before the lights turn red again," he said, pulling her and forcing her to walk.

Touko walked forward in silence, not looking at him. They crossed the street and kept walking. When her sobs stopped, she decided to speak. "What're you doing here... Alone?"

"I was looking for you."

"Huh?" Touko was really surprised. No, it couldn't be. Maybe he only had come after her to make fun of her ignorance, it had to be it. She was sure that he would give her a snide remark as always, but she risked asking. "... Why?"

Something unreadable showed on his face, and for the first time, Touko saw him unsure on how to give an answer.

"Because... I..." He started, but trailed off. His mouth opened and closed a few times without any sound coming from it. When Touko thought that he had given up on the answer, he spoke. "I got... Worried..."

Surely, it wasn't what she had expected to hear. "And... You came alone?"

The answer was obvious, seeing that there was no one else with him, but instead of giving her a remark, he just nodded.

"Where's everyone?"

"Everyone split up."He answered, recovering his composure. "They said that if they searched and didn't find you in 10 minutes, they'd come back and meet in front of the Pokemon Center and ask for help. I remember where it is. If we go there, they'll find us when they come back."

Touko smiled. She felt that his plan could work. Hope returned to her face, but was soon replaced by a hint of worry. "... Did your parents let you come alone like this?"

"No, they didn't."

"What! ? Then they'll get angry with you!"

"I know," he simply said. Then he looked at a signpost and changed the subject. "Here's the street. We're almost there."

They arrived in front of the Pokemon Center. Touko smiled seeing her mother already there.

"Mom!" Touko broke free from Cheren and ran to her mother.

"Touko! Cheren! Thank goodness..." The woman embraced her daughter. After breaking the hug, she took her xtransceiver. "Hello! I'm in front of the Pokemon Center now. I have good news, Touko and Cheren are here!"

"You found them?" Bel's mother asked from the other end of the line.

"No. They found me."

* * *

A few minutes later, the other adults plus Bel were there. Touko and Cheren filled them on the details.

"So Cheren found you and came back here by reading the street names..." Touko's mother said and turned to the boy. "You're really intelligent. Thank you, Cheren."

"Cheren!" The boy's mother spoke. "Never run off like that again! It's dangerous, something could have happened and..."

"Cheren," his father said. "We're thankful that you helped Touko, but as your mother said, it's dangerous for children to wander the streets alone. You were lucky that nothing bad happened to either of you, but you shouldn't take risks like that again. Do you understand?"

He didn't respond.

"After we get home, you'll be grounded for three days. You'll have to spend three days without reading books!"

Since reading was one of the very few things that Cheren seemed to like doing, his "punishment" was the opposite of everyone else's.

The boy said nothing, but bit his lip and gave a very annoyed expression.

Touko was feeling bad for him. To think she didn't like him at all until a few minutes ago... She wanted to say something in his defense, but her mother was the one to protest.

"What? But Mr. Kurozawa! You don't need to do that... He found Touko. He did a good act. You shouldn't ground him!"

"I didn't want to. But he disobeyed us. He broke free from us and ran away. We were worried. Being able to read or not, it's dangerous. Something bad could have happened. We're lucky that nothing did, but he was too reckless. I was thinking of grounding him for one week, but seeing as he found Touko, three days is enough. It's just to remind him to not act so recklessly again."

No one said anything else about the subject. They entered the Pokemon Center to take a rest.

"Touko," Her mother said. "Did you thank Cheren properly?"

"Hmm..." By her hesitation, it was clear that she didn't.

"He's in that room." The woman pointed to the room that the boy's parents had reserved. "Go there and thank him for helping you today."

Touko swallowed. She slowly walked towards the room. Getting at the door, she saw him sitting on the bed with his head low, under the watchful eyes of his parents. She just stood there, afraid of entering and talking to him.

"Touko is at the door. I think she came to see you. You should go talk to her." His mother said, but he didn't move. "Cheren..."

He grunted in annoyance and finally stood up. He walked towards the door, stopping in front of Touko. He kept his annoyed expression and his head low, and didn't look at her directly, prompting his father to give a disapproving look, although Cheren couldn't see it from his position.

"... Hmm... Ch-Cheren..." Touko fidgeted. "... Thank you... For helping me today..." She was sure that he was angry. He would be grounded, and he would say it was her fault. Fearing the worst, she took a step back, but what she expected didn't come.

He sighed, lifted his head and properly faced her at last. "You... I..." He faltered a bit, then continued. "... I'm glad... That you're okay." It didn't come flat like usual. This time, it sounded like he really meant it.

The annoyance disappeared from his face for a moment, then, for the first time, Touko saw him showing faint traces of a smile.

That day marked the start of Touko and Cheren's friendship. After the end of his "punishment", Bel kept insisting in calling him to play. Touko eventually stopped feeling uncomfortable about it, and over time, discovered a few more of those two's quirks. The contrast between the two was as strong as ever, but Touko noticed that instead of making them unable to be part of each other's lives, it only made things much more fun.

X:X:X:X:X

Back to the present, Touko smiled and put the poke ball back in its usual place. The clock on the room's wall marked 3:48. Her friends would arrive soon.

* * *

Touko waited in front of the Pokemon Center. A few minutes later, she could see the two approaching, and her face lit up.

"Touko!" Bel quickened her pace, leaving Cheren behind.

"Bel!" Touko spread her arms and met her friend in an embrace, receiving the "Bel Tackle" gracefully, unlike Cheren moments earlier. After Cheren caught up to them and Bel broke the hug, Touko spoke again, with tears in her eyes and a smile in her face. "Bel... Cheren... You have no idea of how I'm happy to have you here."

"You can count on us whenever!" Bel said with a bright smile. "If you need us, just call and we'll get to you, wherever you are!" And she just had to ruin her touching speech. "Cheren even went to pick me up at the other side of Victory Road! He's so nice, isn't he?"

"Thank you, Cheren. Thanks for coming, and for bringing Bel here."

He just shrugged, deciding not to comment on what Bel had put him through.

* * *

They entered the Pokemon Center and went to the room where Touko was staying.

Despite all the smiles that Touko gave them, it was clear that she wasn't well. Bel decided to talk about some random subject to try cheering her up, but unknowingly chose a bad one.

"Is it true that Reshiram awoke from the Light Stone and helped in the battle?"

"... Yeah." Touko answered dryly.

"Really? How I wanted to have seen her!" Bel said excitedly, not noticing Touko's displeasure.

"You'd regret it." Touko said.

"Why? I always imagined her as a big, majestic, beautiful white pokemon!"

"I saw her." Cheren cut in.

"Oh! You did? And how was she?" She turned to him.

"Exactly as I imagined. Not a big deal." He wouldn't admit that he got overwhelmed by the power he felt when he looked at the dragon.

"Cheren, you're no fun." Bel turned back to Touko. "... But Touko, if she appeared to you, maybe it means that you're the hero, like in the legends!"

"No, I'm not a hero."

"But..."

"No, Bel." Touko interrupted her. "She appeared because she reacted to Zekrom's presence, not me. She's a big, powerful and dangerous white pokemon. She was there only to fight Zekrom. Both are very dangerous. It's best that you weren't there to see. They could have killed you!"

Cheren wouldn't say anything about it, but after feeling that aura of power or whatever it was, he thought he understood why Touko would fear the dragon so much.

"... Okay, okay. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked that." Bel finally noticed that she was stepping on dangerous grounds. "Let's talk about something else then... No, better yet, let's do something else! I just had a wonderful idea!"

"You and your 'wonderful' ideas..." Cheren gave her an annoyed look.

"No, wait! Listen! I was thinking about having a pokemon battle. This way we can focus on something else and forget the bad moments!"

"Hmm... This could work..." Cheren said thoughtfully, adjusting his glasses.

"See? Isn't it a good idea? Come on, let's go!" She didn't wait for a response and hurried out of the room.

Cheren sighed, stood up and followed, with Touko silently trailing behind.

* * *

Trying to put other things out of her mind, Touko battled against Bel and won, then, it was her against Cheren.

"Argh!" Cheren grunted in frustration after losing to Touko once more. Both him and Bel had battled her many times since they started their journey, but they never won. Why couldn't he win at least once? He couldn't beat her even now that she was emotionally unstable... He quickly shook those thoughts from his mind. He couldn't take advantage of her emotional state like that! I immediately had a pang of regret when he looked at Touko again. Her expression wasn't suitable for someone that had just won two battles in a row. "Let's go back to the Pokemon Center," he said simply.

The others silently agreed and walked back to the building.

The trio was back in the room assigned to Touko. They sat on the bed, next to each other.

"What happened there?" Bel spoke. There was a pause and no answer. "... You know, in the battle inside the castle." She knew that N had died, but didn't know the details.

Touko desperately needed to tell it to someone. They were her childhood friends, she knew she could count on them. She told everything from the beginning. What she thought when she first met N at Accumula Town, their encounter at Castelia City, their ride on Nimbasa's ferry's wheel when he revealed that he was Team Plasma's king, what she found out about him in his castle, the final battle and how he had died trying to save her from a huge mass of concrete.

Bel nodded, widened her eyes and showed many other reactions during the narration, also covering her mouth in horror when Touko told about the violent parts. Cheren, who knew the final part due to watching the video from the security camera, just listened to everything silently with a flat expression like it was nothing.

Touko couldn't hold her tears whenever she remembered the battle's worst moments, and when she recalled the events to tell them to her friends, it wasn't different.

Barring Touko's sobs, everything was quiet for a few minutes. Bel decided to break the silence once more. "Touko... You're eating properly, right?"

Touko only lowered her head and said nothing.

"When was the last time you ate?" Unsatisfied, Bel changed the question a little.

"... Yesterday..."

"What! ? No, you can't stay like this! Wait here, I'll bring something for you to eat." Bel stood up and took a few steps towards the door.

"I don't want... Anything. I... I'm not hungry." Touko said between sobs.

"Even if you don't feel hungry, you need to eat!" Bel turned on her heels and faced Touko. "Look. N risked his life to save you! After everything that happened, do you think he would like seeing you dying from starvation! ?" Again, Bel didn't wait for an answer and ran through the door, leaving Touko and Cheren alone.

Cheren hadn't said a word since Touko began retelling her adventures. He was still silent, only watching helplessly as she continued to cry. He saw her cry countless times throughout their childhood, and he hated it, specially because, for some reason that he never understood, most times he apparently was the one who caused it. He wanted to do something, but he was afraid of just making things worse. His thoughts drifted back to his childhood.

X:X:X:X:X

When he first saw Touko, he knew that she was special in some way. He didn't understand how that could be, as she actually didn't look anything out of the ordinary. He got a bit disappointed when she couldn't even tell the name of the city where she moved from.

"What? You don't even know the name of the city where you lived?" He had said, then Touko started crying, and his parents blamed him for it.

"I didn't do anything!" He protested, after his parents had dragged him home and lectured him. He didn't understand what had happened. He had just made a comment, and he didn't see how that could make Touko cry

"Listen. She's our new neighbor," His mother said. "You have to treat her nicely!"

"So what?" He didn't get what that could have to do with anything. For him, he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Cheren Kurozawa!" His father shouted, using the full name for emphasis, like he always did when he wanted to show that he was serious. "Don't talk to us like that! We're your parents. Show more respect."

"... Huh?" What was it now? Why they had to say that he was disrespecting them almost every time he said something? He just wanted more details...

His mother sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Cheren, promise me that you'll treat her gently from now on."

He nodded, although he didn't know what his mother meant by "gently". He wouldn't change his way of acting. He hadn't shouted or anything, so Touko shouldn't have cried because of his comment. It must have been a coincidence.

* * *

Unfortunately for Cheren, it wasn't just a coincidence. A few days later, Bel forced him to play with them. At some point, he made another comment and Touko cried once more. Worse, it happened again a few hours later, making it twice on the same day!

"Cheren, what about your promise?" His mother scolded him again.

He didn't say anything, turned abruptly and ran to his room.

"Cheren!" His father called and was about to follow.

"Let him." His mother interrupted. "He needs to cool down a little."

Cheren closed the door to his room and threw himself on the bed. He still didn't want to believe it. Maybe Touko was just too sensible and cried for nothing. It couldn't be his fault... That day, he didn't even want to eat, nor could concentrate on his books.

* * *

The following day, Bel wanted to force him to play with them again, but he said he wasn't feeling too well (which wasn't entirely false) and luckily, she left him alone. He spent the day inside his room trying to read, but he couldn't concentrate, frequently catching himself watching or listening through the window as the two girls played outside. The afternoon went by. Touko seemed so happy, and didn't cry once. His fears were confirmed. It was really his fault.

* * *

When he met Touko on another day, he avoided talking to her. She seemed to avoid him as well. Maybe she didn't like him, and he didn't understand why it bothered him so much. The other kids in town didn't seem to like him either - in fact, Bel was the only one that insisted on hanging around with him - and He didn't pay much mind to them. But when he saw Touko, he knew that she was different. For the first time, he wished he could get along with someone, but it was proving to be very difficult.

* * *

The three families had had dinner at Bel's house, and they were about to leave.

"Bye Touko!" Bel said. "We'll play more tomorrow, right?"

"Hum!" Touko nodded. "Bye Bel!" Smiling and with a bounce in her step, she was heading in the direction of the door, where her parents waited.

"Touko," her mother said. "Aren't you going to say bye to Cheren?"

Touko stopped right where she was and her smile faded instantly. She slowly turned to where Cheren was seated and took a timid step forward. "... Bye..."

Cheren didn't even look at her, and didn't answer.

"Cheren, Touko's talking to you," His mother said.

He didn't move. He feared that she would cry if he said anything, even if it was a simple "goodbye".

"Answer her." His mother insisted.

He decided he would at least look at her to acknowledge her greeting, and slowly turned his head in her direction. Just that small action was enough to make her flinch, and it really frustrated him. He was doing it as gently as he could. What was the problem?

"Cheren..." His father looked at him seriously. "Are you listening? Say something."

Cheren opened his mouth, but soon closed it without saying anything. In the end, he just gave a slight nod, and Touko slowly walked back towards her mother.

* * *

At the Accumula New Year Festival, when Touko got lost, the adults split up to search for her. Cheren's parents stopped every now and them to ask if someone had seen her. Every time they did, Cheren got more impatient. The search was going too slowly and Touko could get farther each second. He knew that he would get in trouble later, but he could think of only one solution. The next time his parents approached someone and were distracted talking, Cheren quickly let go of his mother's hand and ran away. When his parents noticed and were calling his name, he had already disappeared in the midst of the crowd. He had attentively read the signposts and memorized the way they had come from. He would quickly take a look around, and finding Touko or not,, he would head back to the Pokemon Center, where the adults said they would meet again. Luckily, he had found her. Unluckily, he was grounded for three days after they got home, but he was relieved that Touko was safe.

Only after that incident, Touko started opening up to him. She gradually got more at ease around him, and stopped crying every time he made a comment. One year or so later, the weird barrier between them was broken, and they were finally getting along nicely. Although Cheren wouldn't show it, internally he was very thankful for that.

X:X:X:X:X

"Cheren..." Touko's voice brought him back to reality. "I don't know... I don't know what to do anymore..."

His eyes widened and he flinched when Touko unexpectedly hugged him. He felt as though he was paralyzed as she held onto him and cried onto his shoulder. He didn't like seeing her like that. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. He desperately searched his mind for anything useful, but found nothing. He was a very rational person, and practically clueless when it came to emotions. He hated when he had to deal with them, because in those situations, his logic, all of his knowledge that he was so proud of, simply didn't work. All of his studies, everything that he had learned... All off it seemed as good as nothing. He felt horrible. He felt helpless, useless. He felt stupid for thinking of winning a battle against her by taking advantage of her broken state, even if it was just for a split second. Without a word, he awkwardly hugged her back, hopping to help ease some of her pain. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Touko's crying stopped.

"Do you feel better?" He asked, breaking the hug.

"Hum." She nodded. "Thanks."

"I didn't do anything..."

Touko smiled, confirming that she was indeed a bit better.

A few moments of silence followed, then there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Cheren volunteered, standing up and walking towards the door. "... Mister Alder?"

"Oh, Cheren, you were here. Good, very good..." The Champion nodded in approval. Touko really needed friends by her side, and it was good to see that she was being supported. "Touko, how have you been?"

"A bit better, I think."

"Hmm." The Champion nodded thoughtfully again.

"... Did something happen?" She asked worriedly. She wasn't expecting Alder to come.

"Well, actually I wanted to talk to both of you. I was lucky to find you two here. So, I'll get to the point. I don't know if you are aware of this, but since you already defeated the Elite Four, you are eligible to battle me for the title of Champion. Obviously, if one of you defeats me first and becomes the new Champion, the League ends and the other can't participate, but both of you have a chance otherwise, and that's a unique chance which many trainers dream of having. The battle will be three weeks from now, and as all Champion battles of the League, it will be broadcasted to the entire Unova. What do you say?"

Cheren's eyes lit up. It was the opportunity that he was waiting for. The chance to become Champion. "Yes. I'll do it, of course."

For Touko, it wasn't "of course". "... Thank you, but I'll pass."

The two looked at her surprised.

"You don't need to answer yet. There's still some time to think." Alder said.

"I don't need to think. I don't feel that I'm up to it. And after... Everything that happened, I just want to go home and rest."

"Well, if that's your decision..." Alder was a bit disappointed, but decided not to press it.

* * *

They talked a bit more, and Alder left. Touko and Cheren were distracted with their own thoughts. Suddenly, they were startled by the door being opened abruptly.

"I'm baaaaack!" Bel entered, carrying a tray full of multi colored goods.

"Bel, what's this?" Cheren gave her a disapproving look. "First you ask Touko if she's eating 'properly', then you bring her a tray full of sweets! You should have brought something more healthy..."

"Aww, come on! Sweets are tasty! Touko needs something to lift her spirits!"

"There's healthy food that tastes good as well." Cheren sighed and stood up. "I'll be right back."

Touko laughed, and spoke with teary eyes. "Thank you. I really appreciate what you're doing for me. You're the best friends that I could hope for... Thank you, it really means a lot."

* * *

A/n: Cheren and Bel scenes are so fun to write XDDD.

Speaking of which, Cheren is a bit out of character, he isn't so serious in the games. His parents are also OOC. The games give a bit of background on Touko's mother and Bel's parents (mostly her father, who didn't want to allow her to leave on a journey etc.), but Cheren's parents are completely flat. Both in BW1 and BW2, they only say things that any other non important NPC could have said, and have no personality whatsoever. To me, they seemed all around good, soft people :P.

The part where Cheren presses the call button just when the clock marks "2:00" is like when trying to manipulate the game's RNG (who already did it will know what I'm talking about). I only tried that with Platinum (which was said to be the easiest at the time), I couldn't get it right and I didn't have much patience with it. I didn't try messing with the RNG of the newer games yet, but it seems that it's much easier with HGSS and BW now. I still hope to get it right someday... I'll try again when I'm not short on time and patience :P.

Dream World references! It's a hint as to how N is coming back! There're still a few chapters before that, though.

The game forces you to fight the Elite Four again if you want to battle Alder. Here, they still have the chance! ... But Touko wants to throw it away. Let's see if someone can make her change her mind...

Next chapter, the craziness starts! :P

Names:

* Blanco (the surname I gave to Bel): Spanish for "white".

* Kurozawa (the surname I gave to Cheren): a Japanese surname, from "kuro" ("黒"), "black" and "sawa" ("澤"), "swamp".


	7. Arceus' Realm

A/n: hi everyone! Thank you to all readers, followers, "favoriters", and reviewers alike!

Nathan, yes, I know that this story could break the hearts of N fangirls. That's why I said in the notes before chapter 4 that the readers probably would want to kill me! And thanks for saying that the story is well written. The email alert about your review arrived just before I went to sleep, and I was so happy! XD

KoldkrazyKyurem613, thank you very much for your continued support! It means a lot! By the way, I read your profile and Red's quote is the best! :D

Chapter 7 went way out of control and became long again. I had it written for some time and I thought it was ready, but then I had inspiration and more things appeared...

As promised, the craziness starts now!

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 7: Arceus' Realm

"So, see you tomorrow at 10 A.M., in front of the Pokemon Center!" Bel said and left the room.

Cheren was about to follow but turned back. "Touko, are you really sure?"

"About what?"

"The Pokemon League."

"Yeah, I'm sure." She answered without thinking twice.

"Why? ... I mean, I know that you're going through a lot. But you came all the way here. You got all badges. You defeated the Elite Four, which isn't something that just anyone can pull off. You have potential. Mister Alder also seems to have noticed that. So why?"

"I don't get it... About 'having potential' and things like that. I never wanted to become Champion or anything. I got the first badges but I didn't know what to do with them. Then I was told that Team Plasma was planning to do things in the League, and I decided to get the rest. I only entered the League because I wanted to help stop Team Plasma, nothing more."

"'Nothing more?'" Cheren looked at her as if what she just said was completely absurd. "It was quite heroic if you ask me."

"Why does everyone keep saying things like that?"

"**You** stopped Team Plasma." He added. "You heard what Mister Alder said. You prevented the separation of all pokemon and trainers in Unova. The **whole Unova**. You're a hero, Touko."

"No, I'm not! I didn't stop Team Plasma. The police, you, Mister Alder and the gym leaders did."

"We helped. You were on the front line, and did the hardest part."

"I didn't do anything!" She insisted. "I won against the Elite Four by pure luck. In the battle against N, Reshiram defeated Zekrom. Against Ghetsis... I thought I wouldn't get out of there alive... I was scared. I could barely shout move names to my pokemon..."

"And still, you're here now. You..."

Touko shook her head, interrupting him. "No, Cheren, I'm not a hero."

"Grrrh..." Cheren adjusted his glasses, grunting in irritation. His patience was running short. "... You aren't the one to decide that!"

Touko also snapped. "And neither are you!"

Cheren was speechless, not expecting that reaction, but stubbornly glared at her. Then, Touko did something that she would never think about doing ten years ago. She defiantly glared back. A few seconds passed, and she averted her gaze, tears threatening to fall again.

"I'm not a hero..." She repeated. "If I were, I would have been able to save N, and he wouldn't have died. He, indeed, was a true hero. He bonded with pokemon like I had never seen before, and was always concerned about them. He shouldn't have died! I'm sure that he would have a bright future..."

"No... It doesn't work like that..." Cheren managed to say, and was promptly interrupted.

"What? So now you're saying that **you** have the power to determine how things should be? Who do you think you are! ? Stop talking like you know everything!"

"... No..." It was his time to shake his head. "that's not it..."

"What's it then! ?" Touko shouted in irritation.

"... Well... I can't determine those things, and I don't know everything. But... From the time we first met, I knew... I knew that you were different. It was as if... Hmm... How can I say this?" He turned his head to the side, fiddled with his glasses thoughtfully for a bit, then looked back at her and continued. "I felt that you were destined for great things. And..." He felt stupid for not being able to come up with his own sentence, having to paraphrase her. "Like you said, I was sure that you'd have... A bright future."

Under normal circumstances, she would be surprised to hear something like that coming from him, but she wasn't thinking properly. "You're wrong. I'm not different. I'm just a normal person. And everything that's happening to me now... Does it look any bright to you?"

"... No!" He widened his eyes. "... B-but that's why I think you should challenge the Champion. It could bring you new opportunities... And things can change for better..."

"No. I'll retire from the League. It's already decided."

"Is that so?" He said, a little disappointed. He stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say next. He gave up, deciding to leave. "... Alright. Well, I already bothered you too much. I'll leave now. See you tomorrow." He didn't wait for a response and left through the door.

Touko sighed and sat on the bed. N's words rang in her mind. "A fight to see which of the beliefs was stronger, hero to hero... But I thought it wouldn't happen, that the other hero wouldn't appear. Then you came and showed me the answer that I was looking for."

"N, even you... Why did you say that? I'm not a hero. But you were a true one. You should have much more important things to do. You could be helping pokemon to live better, pokemon from all over the world... Why did you sacrifice your life to save a normal person like me! ?" Touko couldn't contain her tears anymore and cried again.

* * *

Cheren walked along the Pokemon Center's corridors. He was a bit disappointed with Touko's decision. If she participated, he was even willing to go last, meaning that if she became Champion, he would have to wait for another opportunity. The other downside was that if no one else managed to defeat Touko afterward, he would be the one to take the title from her. But Those were just "what ifs" and wouldn't happen. It was up to him now. It was the chance that he waited for his whole life, and he shouldn't waste it. Without Touko, it was one less rival for him to worry about... No, he shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking like that.

He went to Victory Road, deciding to do some training and distract himself. But it wasn't going very well. Touko's reactions from earlier still bothered him. He was more irritated than usual, and every slight mistake from his pokemon was a reason for him to snap at them.

One hour and a half later, Cheren's pokemon were eating berries.

"Phew, finally..." Liepard stretched.

"But this is just a small break. he still wants us to train more later," Simipour said.

"Don't remind me," Liepard sighed, stuffing a berry into his mouth.

"Today, he's stricter than usual." Ferrothorn dug one of his thorns into a berry and absorbed its contents.

"it must have to do with his argument with Touko earlier." Unfezant noted. "Did you hear what he said to her? I could hear it from inside the poke ball."

"Yeah, it was... Cute," Snivy answered.

"It was totally unexpected!" Liepard said. "I like his style. He comes in stealthily, and when no one's expecting, 'boom', he makes the move! I'm sure that if he were a pokemon, he would be a dark type. Don't you all agree?"

"Hmm, I don't know..." Unfezant cocked her head to the side thoughtfully while eating a berry. "Let's think about type effectiveness..." They had spent so much time training with Cheren that they even began thinking analytically like him. "What type is Bel Tackle? It's super effective against him."

"Hmm... Normal?" Simipour shot a random type.

"No," Ferrothorn said. "Normal isn't super effective against anything. Fire, maybe?"

"Yeah," Snivy agreed. "Her move... No, she must be a fire type!"

"Why is that?" Liepard asked.

Snivy gave her theory. "If we think about starters, Touko would be water because she chose Oshawott, Bel would be fire because she chose Tepig, and Cheren chose me, so that would make him a grass type!"

"Hmm hmm. Unfezant nodded. "Fire isn't very effective against water, Bel's attack isn't very effective against Touko... And grass is weak to fire. Makes sense. Now that I think about it, he reminds me of a Serperior sometimes."

"Oh, and he has two grass types in his current team right now." Liepard added.

"Hm." Snivy nodded and lowered her head, well aware of the reason that made him get another grass type.

"But his heart is as hard as rock." Ferrothorn remarked. "Maybe he's a dual type."

"He can't be part rock," Liepard said. "The rock type would cancel the fire effectiveness. I still insist on dark type."

"Or maybe grass and steel like Ferrothorn?" Simipour suggested.

"Hard, with thorns and everything..." Unfezant added.

"And with a double weakness to fire," Ferrothorn himself said.

"Ouch." Liepard closed his eyes tightly. "Alright. So, steel and grass, and not dark... But maybe that's why Bel Tackle works so well on him! Ahahahahaha!"

The pokemon laughed loudly while they finished their berries.

"Dinner time is over." Cheren approached. "Let's go back to training."

The pokemon looked at each other, trying to stifle their laugh. And at that time, they were glad that Cheren couldn't understand what they were saying, otherwise he probably would unleash Explosion or something like that on them...

* * *

It was late at night. Touko was talking to her pokemon outside of the Pokemon Center.

"I decided to retire from the Pokemon League. Cheren will stay and challenge Mister Alder, while I'll go back home with Bel. We'll leave tomorrow morning. And you..." She paused. "I think I won't battle much anymore... So, if you want to keep active, enter competitions and things like that, it's better to look for another trainer..."

The pokemon had varied reactions. Hardy protested, Takimaru made a serious face, and the others looked at her worriedly.

"So, who's still with me? You can give the answer later, in the dreams. Speaking of that, I think this is the last time that I'll use these pillows. I'll return them to Professor Fennel on the way home." Understanding pokemon's words reminded her of N, so she wanted to return the pillows and forget about it.

The pokemon talked to each other for a bit, then signaled to Touko that they had come to a conclusion.

* * *

X:X:X:X:X

Touko slept with Fennel's dream research pillows, along with a few of her pokemon. Hardy couldn't come because he was too big, Junka didn't because they only had three pillows (one was for Touko), leaving only Takimaru and Corona, and Monica who didn't need the pillows because of her Munna powers.

"So?" Touko asked when they were in the Dream World.

"Hardy doesn't trade battles for anything, it seems." Takimaru answered. "He said he wants to search for another trainer. As for all of us, we're worried about you. We'll stay at your side... Unless you don't want us around, that is."

"Can I stay with you? " Corona asked. "I like to be with you. I want to stay!"

"Of course you can." Touko would keep her. Corona was too young to be released into the wild.

"Touko..." Monica began timidly. "I know that I didn't make much progress, and that I'm not very useful... But I also want to be with you."

Touko hugged the Munna lightly. "Monica, you were very brave." She smiled. "You all did great. I probably wouldn't be here if you didn't help me. Everyone, Thank you."

Corona spoke again. "Touko, where's Shira?"

"... Who?"

"Shira! Where's she?"

Takimaru stepped in to help. "I think she means Reshiram."

Just by thinking about the white dragon, Touko felt chills in her stomach. "... She... Left."

"Left to where?" The baby Larvesta insisted.

"I don't know..."

"No, this isn't right!" Corona had tears in her eyes. "Why didn't she come with us? She helped to protect you too!"

"... Listen..." Touko breathed deeply. The little pokemon was too stubborn and she was running out of things to say. "She's a big and powerful legendary pokemon. I'm sure she has better things to do than following a mere trainer like me. And she only 'helped' because she was there to fight Zekrom." Touko didn't know that Reshiram was the one who ultimately saved her from Ghetsis' Hydreigon.

"No! It isn't true!" Corona shouted, running around frantically. "Shira! Shira!"

Takimaru walked away and looked around, searching for something that could distract her. "Hey everyone, look!"

Touko and Monica went over to where Takimaru was, and saw a group of trees full of different kinds of berries.

"Oh! So many berries! I never saw any of these before..." Touko said, amazed.

"Corona, come see this." Takimaru dragged a crying Corona over to the group of trees. He ate a berry to encourage the Larvesta. "It tastes good. Here, have one."

Corona was forced to eat one. Soon she was delighted by the taste and finally stopped crying.

"I had an idea," Touko said, still with the intent of distracting corona. "Let's make a competition. I'll count to 10, and who picks more berries wins!"

"... Yeah!" Corona was all enthusiastic. I'll get many many berries to bring home! And I'll give some to Shira too!""

Takimaru sighed. By the looks of it, the Larvesta wouldn't forget about Reshiram too soon. "Alright. Touko, you can begin."

"Let's do it then. Everyone, ready? Go!"

And they enjoyed their time laughing and picking berries.

X:X:X:X:X

* * *

"Monica, Takimaru, Corona, good morning." Waking up, Touko greeted them, still with eyes closed.

"Hmm, good morning." Takimaru said sleepily, in pokemon language and Touko couldn't understand him anymore.

"Touko! Touko!" Corona tugged on her shirt. "Look how many berries we got!"

"Hm? What's it?" Touko opened her eyes. "Aaaaaaaaah! But these are..." She was completely taken aback by the sight. She didn't know what to say. The ground around them was littered with berries. And not just any berries. They were the very rare ones from her dream!

"This is... ... Should be... Impossible," Takimaru said also in disbelief.

"Great! Now we just need to find Shira, to share these with her too!"

And Takimaru sighed once more.

* * *

"Zorua!" Zoroark called. "Zorua, wake up."

"Hmm... Hhmmmmm..." The little fox just mumbled and rolled to the side.

"Zorua..." He called again.

"No... Zoroark, let me stay more. I still didn't dream about N..."

"How many times I'll have to tell you to stop living in this illusion! ? Zorua, get up **now**!" Zoroark slapped the smaller fox with his tail.

"Aaaaah!" Zorua widened his eyes and jumped awake.

"Come on. Rood said he'll continue with our training. We need to be strong to be able to help other pokemon and trainers." Zoroark took a tray with berries that the humans told him to share with Zorua and brought it closer. "Eat these berries and come outside. We're waiting for you. Don't be late."

"Hm." Zorua nodded. He would have to get stronger if he wanted to help when N came back.

* * *

After the breakfast, Touko called her mother on her xtransceiver, and told her that she was heading home.

"What about the Pokemon League? Last time we talked, you said that you had gotten the last badge."

Touko sighed. Why did everyone had to ask her about the Pokemon League? "Yeah, I did..." She confirmed getting all badges, but she wouldn't say that she had defeated the Elite Four. "But at the time, I didn't really know what I wanted. Later, I realized that I just wanted to meet different kinds of pokemon. Competitions, the League and things like that... They just aren't for me. Now, I just want to be back home..."

"Ah, I see. Guess what? You aren't the only one." Her mother grinned.

"Uh?"

"That's right! Dad just called the other day. He said that he got a new job in Accumula Town, and he's coming home tomorrow!"

"Oh! That's great!" Touko smiled. Her father worked in Castelia City, and lived in a rented house there. It was a bit far from Nuvema Town and he rarely had time to visit. Accumula was just a 15 minute walk from Nuvema, so with the new job, he could move back in and stay with them, like when she was little.

They talked a bit more, and Touko had to hang up because it was almost time to meet her friends. It was 15 minutes before 10 A.M.. She figured that Bel still wouldn't have arrived. But...

"Cheren..." She whispered his name.

"From the time we first met, I knew... I knew that you were different." His words from the previous day replayed in her head. "I felt that you were destined for great things. And... I was sure that you'd have... A bright future."

"And everything that's happening to me now... Does it look any bright to you?" Touko had a pang of regret remembering what she had said. He was just trying to help. He rarely showed it, but this time it was very clear that he was worried. She shouldn't have answered like that. Now, he was probably angry with her. Maybe he wouldn't come...

Touko's thoughts were cut short when she stepped out of the Pokemon Center. Cheren was there. He was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently, and had his hands in his pockets.

Touko timidly approached. "... Cheren..."

He slowly turned to face her, but instead of the irritated expression that Touko thought he would have, he had an unsure one.

"I'm sorry... For yesterday." Touko continued. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm really sorry."

"... No problem." He tried to sound convincing. "You're going through a lot. So... Well... I can't blame you."

By his words, if she wasn't being through so hard times, he would really blame her. It was the kind of spiky answer that Touko hated ten years ago. It took her a long time to understand, but that was just Cheren. He was always like that. He said whatever he was thinking, no disguises, no lighter words to soften meanings, no anything. It was raw, straight from his head. That was his way of being, and she couldn't really blame him, either.

"I know that you were just trying to help, and I thank you for that. But..." She gave a short pause. "My decision about the League didn't change. I'll be heading back home."

"I still don't understand. This opportunity is so unique..." When he noticed, he had already spoken. He feared that the argument would start all over again.

Luckily, Touko was calmer this time. "I'm not like you, Cheren. You always wanted to become Champion, so it's very important to you. But to me, it's not. The title of Champion never appealed to me. So, better to leave it for someone that really wants it, right?"

Cheren didn't respond, and both stayed in silence until Bel arrived.

"Hi! Here I am! ... I'm not too late this time, right?"

"Just 3 minutes." Cheren looked at his xtransceiver. He was glad that Bel seemed to be keeping her promise.

"Oh yeah. I have a favor to ask of both of you." Touko looked at them seriously. "I don't want anyone else to know that I defeated the Elite Four, nor about my fight against Team Plasma."

"Why?" Bel asked. She was sure that what Touko did was really amazing, and very important.

"Because it has to do with what happened to N, and... I don't want to talk about it. It's still very hard for me..."

Understanding crossed Bel's eyes. She looked at Cheren and both silently agreed to keep their friend's secret. If Touko wanted to tell it to someone, she would talk when she was ready.

"Touko, your secret's safe with me," Cheren said firmly.

"Hey! It's safe with me too!" Bel protested.

"Are you sure?" Cheren looked at her sternly. "Don't make it slip."

"I won't!" Bel clasped her hands together and gave a slight bow. "I'll be careful. Touko, you have my word!"

"Thank you." Touko smiled. "Now, I guess it's time to go. Cheren, I won't participate in the Champion battle, but I want you to win." She pulled a small bundle from her bag. "Here, I'll give you these."

He unwrapped the bundle and his eyes widened. "...! But these berries... These are very rare! Touko, where did you get them?"

She just smiled awkwardly and didn't answer. She hadn't told anyone about Fennel's research pillows, and it was still hard to believe that those berries had materialized from a dream.

Cheren shook his head. "No, They're so rare that using them feels like a waste! I can't keep these..."

"I want you to. Maybe I won't battle much anymore, so I won't need them. I'm sure that you can make good use of them. They may be useful for you in the Champion battle."

"But..."

Bel glared at him. "Cheren, she's giving you a gift! Just accept it and don't complain!"

"Um... Well, so... Thanks." He finally decided to wrap the berries back and put them in his bag.

"I'm the one to thank you. You helped me a lot." "Well, we'll be on our way now. Bye Cheren."

She hugged him lightly. He widened his eyes for a second but quickly recovered. "Take care," he said looking at both girls after the hug had ended.

"You too!" Without much warning, Bel came at him and also gave him a hug. It was much more vigorous than Touko's, although not violent enough to make him fall over like usual. "I won't say 'good luck' just yet, because we'll be coming to see the battle, okay?" She added, grinning.

He nodded.

"Then, bye! Come on Touko, let's go!" Bel wrapped an arm around Touko's shoulder and they walked away.

* * *

It was like in the legend. More or less. Long ago, there was a very big dragon pokemon in the region that would become Unova. Two children, the twins designed to be the first heroes, found it and, despite its enormous size, they befriended it. They spent the greater part of their lives with the dragon, developing a strong bond. Then there was the crisis and the heroes went to opposite sides, one sided with truth, and the other with ideals. Not wanting to pick one side over the other, the dragon was lost between supporting truth, or ideals, or neither, just throwing it all away and giving up. It wished there could be a way to support both at the same time... Then, it split in three. The first one sided with ideals, the second one sided with truth, and the other didn't know what it wanted and left with no purpose, getting lost far, far away... Thus, the cycle began.

Whenever a crisis involving a clash between truth and ideals was likely to occur in Unova, Arceus sent two souls designed to be the heroes. Each one would be an important influence to each side, and along the way, they had to find balance between truth and ideals to solve the crisis. Zekrom's and Reshiram's mission was to guide the heroes, trying to learn more and find balance between the two beliefs together with their chosen. Each time, new problems arose and new heroes were sent to solve them. The conflict always ended in a battle between Zekrom and Reshiram, always in a draw, showing that both ideals and truth were equally important and should be joining forces to make Unova a better place instead of fighting each other. Then, for the rest of the heroes' lives, the dragons should stay with them, supporting them and reflecting on why balance between the beliefs was needed.

At first, both dragons only saw their respective belief and nothing else. As time passed, Reshiram developed a more understanding and caring personality, doing her best to support the heroes in every way she could. With that, she got some steps closer to her goal. On the other hand, Zekrom didn't change as much. He was getting tired of never winning the battles. His chosen's views didn't matter much anymore. He was angry to the point that his ideals could be summarized in two words: beating Reshiram. He didn't see the hero's life until the end anymore. After the conflict was "solved", he left on the first opportunity that presented itself, expending a long time destroying things far away, directing his frustration somewhere else, until he was forced to revert his pokemon body back to the Dark Stone and become a shapeless soul. Arceus was not pleased with Zekrom's behavior, and said that he would take drastic measures if the black dragon continued acting that way. No one knew what it could mean. The worst the pokemon god did was destroying a being's soul forever, to never disturb his other creations again. Reshiram didn't want anything bad to happen to Zekrom. Both once were part of one being, after all. She always stood up for him, asking Arceus for more chances. That only served to anger Zekrom even more, because he felt that she was pitying him. He wanted to prove he didn't need that. For him, Arceus could do anything to him, as long as he beat Reshiram first. But one crisis later, it was over. Finally something different happened. Reshiram defeated him in the last battle of truth versus ideals. To make matters worse, Zekrom not only didn't fully support the assigned hero. He went as far as to kill him. In short, the black dragon's mission was a complete failure.

* * *

After Touko left the throne room, Reshiram, unable to move, had cried until sleep took over her. When she woke up, she wasn't fully recovered yet, but at least her movements had come back. Flying through the hole that Zekrom created by crashing into the room, Reshiram was finally out of Team Plasma's castle. She went on her way carefully in order to not risk being spotted by humans. She actually didn't like avoiding them, but unfortunately there were many unscrupulous people that would stop at nothing to capture a legendary pokemon like her, so she needed to keep a low profile. She flew by quickly over the city, but found no sign of Touko. Reshiram really wanted to find the girl again, but she didn't know how much time had passed since she had fallen asleep. It could have been a few hours, or one day, or one week, or perhaps more. Touko could already have left. Resigned, the white dragon decided to go back to the desert where she hibernated before. She would rest to recover fully, then search more thoroughly later.

The sun was setting when Reshiram arrived at her destination. She entered Relic Castle. Many of the pokemon that knew of her existence scattered and opened the way for her. She entered an empty room, laid down and closed her eyes. Strangely, she didn't get the sensation of just going back to sleep. her body involuntarily emitted a bright light, turning back into the Light Stone. She felt that her soul was leaving. It meant that the higher-ups were already calling her back. Reshiram started to panic. She didn't want to go. It couldn't be over yet. She wanted to stay at Touko's side and support her, like she did with the previous heroes. But again, the results of her mission weren't the best. She couldn't even form a bond with the Hero of Truth, nor prevent Zekrom from killing the Hero of Ideals. Yes, she probably screwed up this time. The only thing she could do was to accept that it was over. She had no control of her movements anymore. Her soul floated on its own as if being carried away.

Reshiram's shapeless soul appeared at the Entralink, a sacred place that connected the world to Arceus' Realm, located in the center of Unova. There were similar places in the other regions, but that one was the most well known by humans due to its location. It even appeared in Unova's map whereas the Entralinks from other regions were hidden. It was famous for its sacred status, the huge tree at its center, its vast forest areas, and two bridges that didn't seem to connect to anywhere special, but people believed them to hold some mysterious meaning. The place could be accessed by humans, but only without a physical body (i.e. being a soul) one could get to Arceus' Realm by crossing the bridges. It was what happened to Reshiram. Getting to the other side of the bridge, she was teleported again, appearing at Arceus' Realm, where she finally regained control of her movements.

The place was a palace like structure, full of long corridors, rooms and stairs, with a mix of ancient looking features like the paintings on the walls, and recent technology like the doors that opened automatically when someone passed. Several humans, pokemon and other souls with undefined shapes walked to and fro. There, everyone could choose to appear as a shapeless soul, or assume an appearance similar to their physical forms. Reshiram preferred the former for ease of movement, while others preferred the later. She passed by a small group of humans and entered a corridor, where she stopped.

"And I'm back here again..." She sighed, remembering the other times she was there.

X:X:X:X:X

The first time Reshiram got there, after the split and her first battle against Zekrom, she had only met Arceus. He explained to her a bit about finding balance between truth and ideals, which she and Zekrom would have to achieve in other opportunities. Then she was sent back to the Light Stone and went to hibernation, waking up only during the next crisis. After it ended, she was summoned to Arceus' Realm again, and the same thing happened. On the third time however, things changed. While heading to the room where Arceus awaited her, she heard other souls chattering in the corridors.

"Did you hear that? Mistress Mew was promoted and became the second in command."

"Oh, really?"

"Mistress... Mew? Who?" Reshiram murmured to herself.

Soon, Arceus came and talked about the dragons' and the heroes' progress. Then he left, saying that Mew, who was his first creation, the provider of the genes used as basis for all subsequent pokemon, and the newly appointed second in command, wanted to see her.

At first, when Reshiram was with Arceus, she got nervous. She mostly listened and rarely spoke. This time, it wasn't different. And as if one wasn't enough, she had to face one more authority. She was still nervous, imagining what kind of pokemon Mew could be. When said second in command arrived, Reshiram was greeted by a sight she didn't expect. Instead of a big, majestic creature, in front of her was a very tiny, pink cat like pokemon with small arms and a long tail.

"You... You are... Mistress Mew?"

"That's right!" The pink cat raised her arms dramatically. "I was curious and wanted to see you for quite some time. It's nice to finally meet you, Reshiram!" She flew around Reshiram and stopped in front of her. "I know that it's very sudden, but can you do me a favor? It isn't too difficult, I think..."

"O-o-of course! I'll do anything, Mistress Mew..."

"Ah." The small creature sighed sadly. "It's good to be respected and all... But I would prefer if you dropped the formalities. Simply call me Mew."

"J-just like that? Is it really okay? I mean..."

"I was the one to ask that of you, wasn't I?"

"Yes, but..."

"Will you do it for me?"

"Yes, Mis... I mean M-Mew..."

"Okay then, thanks!"

"... Right... So, what was the favor that you wanted to ask?"

"Hm? Oh! It was actually what I've just asked now."

"... Huh? Just that?"

"Yes, that was it. Well, I was in the middle of something, and now I need to be going. It was nice talking to you. See ya!" Mew flew off, leaving a bewildered Reshiram behind.

* * *

Some time had passed since her first encounter with Mew. As a shapeless soul, Reshiram wandered through the corridors. She saw some flashing lights coming from an open door. Curiosity got the better out of her and she entered. Inside, there were big screens displaying many colored lines and weird symbols. She was imagining what those could mean when she heard a voice.

"Reshiram?"

"Ah!" Reshiram jumped, startled. If her soul had a hand, she would have slapped herself on the face. She regretted entering there. She was caught, and who knew what could happen. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw... "M... Mew?"

"Oh! Yeeessss!" Mew floated upward in joy and her eyes lit up. "You remembered our agreement, I'm so happy! I asked that of many already, but you're the first one that actually did it. Perhaps you need to 'train' a bit more, but that's okay."

"Huh... ?" Reshiram was completely confused. She only came back to reality when she heard the next question.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah! Hm... I was passing by, I saw those colored things flashing and... B-but I didn't touch anything, really!"

"Ah, I see. Don't worry. Even if you touched something, nothing would happen. This display only responds to specific special commands."

Reshiram waited for a few seconds and nothing happened. "... Won't I be punished... For entering here and... You know..."

"Uh? Ahahahaha!" Mew laughed. "You really take things seriously, don't you? You won't. You didn't do anything."

"Um... So, thank you, I guess." Reshiram felt relieved.

"Nothing to thank me for. I didn't do anything, either." Mew playfully whacked Reshiram's soul with her tail. "Now I have to turn these into reports for Arceus. Next time, I can explain the flashy things to you if you want."

"Sorry to have interrupted your work. See you another time." Reshiram left, a bit more at ease. And for the first time, she saw that the world wasn't just black and white. From Mew's appearance to her attitude, nothing was an indication of her status and responsibilities. Mew was cheerful, easy going, and a bit laid back perhaps. Even then, being promoted to second in command meant that Arceus had enough trust in her. Reshiram had to reassess her concept of "right" and "wrong". Was there a "right" way to act? Was it "wrong" to not act exactly that way, or was there a middle ground between the two? After that encounter, Reshiram spent much of her time thinking about that.

* * *

Reshiram wanted to talk more with Mew, to see if she could get some answers to her internal questions. She went to that room again, and Mew was there.

"Hey Reshiram."

"Are you busy?"

"Not much. Why?"

"Last time, you said you could tell me about those flashing things. What are they?" Reshiram's soul bobbed in the big screen's direction.

"These are graphs... Meters keeping track of the progress of some creatures. Maybe you know this, but in the world that Arceus created, after a being gets to the end of its life, it's reincarnated, usually in a different place, in different conditions, where they have to experience new things in order to grow up as a being. Arceus is interested to know how they're reacting to the current conditions, so I have to look at these meters and make reports for him."

"Hm... I knew that everyone got reincarnated, but I never stopped to think about it. So, it means that the first heroes... The twins that founded Unova... They also got reincarnated, right?"

"Yes, they did."

"Do you think they still remember Zekrom and me?"

"A long time passed since then. For most humans and pokemon, it's difficult to access all of their memories. Each new life, each new experience creates lots of new things to remember. These build up over time, and the old ones are 'buried' away. The oldest memories can still be accessed if one tries hard, but in most cases, it's so deep down that the creature isn't even aware that there's something else to be remembered. So, answering your question, they probably don't, unfortunately. The bright side is that nothing was in vain. Even if they don't remember you, everything that you experienced together was very important, because it helped to shape them into what they are now."

"... So... Does it mean that I'll also forget? I don't want to forget them."

"We... I mean you, me, Zekrom and a few others, are of rare pokemon species, so rare that people started to call us 'legendaries'. Most of us have some special purpose, usually to protect a region of Arceus' world, and in order to make better decisions, we need to be aware of what's going on in the region, while also remembering clearly the important events from the past. According to Arceus, we were more difficult to create than most other pokemon. We also have unique abilities, including easier access to our memories. So, you'll have less problems with forgetting things."

"We spent so many precious moments together..." Reshiram spoke quietly mostly to herself, although her voice could be heard. "I'll remember... But they won't. If I meet them again, they won't remember me, and will act as if we had never met. It's sad..."

"Yes, it is."

A few moments passed in silence.

"Reshiram, are you okay?"

"... Mew..."

"Yes?"

"Do you think I could... Be reincarnated as a human?"

"What? You?"

"Yes. I also want to have new experiences. To do things that I can't do while being a pokemon. I want to understand more about humans, so that I can support the next heroes better. Even if they won't remember me later... If what we experience together can help them improve, I want to help! ... Can I?"

"Hmm..." Mew closed her eyes in thought. "Very interesting. I'll talk to Arceus about it."

"Thank you."

Some time later, Mew came to meet Reshiram.

"I talked to Arceus. He's always interested in knowing how his lifeforms react to different conditions, and as I imagined, he accepted!"

"Really?"

"Yes! Ah, just one thing. He warned you to be careful with your powers."

"My powers?"

"As I already said, the souls of us 'legendaries' are much more 'detailed' than the others. We have more power than the average creatures, and it's part of our souls, though it can only manifest fully with our pokemon bodies. The human body isn't built for that and the powers can't really manifest 'destructively', but it's still in us, and some creatures with more developed senses, like psychics, may notice something."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

The time passed. Reshiram was born as a human in several occasions when there was no crisis. She learned many things living both as human and pokemon several times. Some people noticed an unusual energy coming from her, but it was never a problem. Usually, the ones who noticed were good people in general and just pointed out that she was special, different in some way.

One thing that she really liked about being human was that she could communicate with other humans, and that she didn't need to fear being pursued due to being a legendary pokemon.

Her lives came and went, and during the "trips" to Arceus' Realm, she and Mew developed a nice friendship.

With the knowledge she gathered during her many adventures, Reshiram was able to better understand and support her heroes afterwards. Until the latest crisis came and she had to help Touko, that is. They didn't form a bond. Actually, they barely interacted. Touko didn't open up to her. It was the first time that something like that happened, and Reshiram was unable to do anything...

X:X:X:X:X

Coming back to the present, Reshiram braced herself and entered the monitoring room, the place with the screens and graphs, where Mew usually was.

"Oh, hello Reshiram!" Mew greeted enthusiastically.

"Mew, I..."

"Congratulations on your mission!" Mew interrupted.

"Uh? B-but... The result..."

"Considering the circumstances, it was good enough. You prevented Zekrom from doing... Who knows what else."

"... Is Zekrom already here?"

"Yes, he got here a while back. He's unconscious right now."

"Can I check up on him?"

"I knew that you would ask. That's why I called you here."

"Uh? Is it? I thought... I thought I had messed up..."

"No, you didn't. After you see Zekrom, I'll send you back."

"... Really?"

"Yes, don't worry!" Mew said reassuringly. "... About Zekrom, you can see him, but just from a far. And do not wake him up. It's the first time that he loses to you, so if he wakes up and sees you, it won't be good. He needs to cool off a little first."

"... Thank you," Reshiram said, relieved. She continued after a short pause. "... What about Kyurem? Can I see him?"

Mew visibly gulped, and almost shouted. "N-n-no! You can't!"

That only made Reshiram get more worried. "... Did Kyurem do something again?"

Mew hesitated. "Wel... There was a little incident... Recently." She quickly added. "B-but everything is alright now, you don't need to worry..."

Reshiram wasn't fully convinced. "Even so, Mew, please, let me see him, just for a minute..."

"No, you can't, and you know why."

"O-okay..." The situation seemed serious. Reshiram decided not to press it... For now. She changed the subject. "So, any news around here? Anything that I should be aware of?"

"Oh yes!" Mew already seemed a bit calmer. She produced a pink bubble and spun in it while she talked. "Arceus is on a vacation right now. He's taking a look at lifeforms in other worlds."

"When is he coming back?"

"Hmm..." Mew stopped spinning in her bubble for a moment, thinking. "He said his vacation would take... Around fifty living years."

"How much time passed since he left?"

"Let's see... Around half of that. But yes, he's away, aaand do you know what this means?"

"What?"

"It means that I'm in charge!" Mew popped the bubble and did a backflip trying to look dramatic.

It was Reshiram's turn to think.

"... Then, can I ask you a favor?"

"It depends. What's it about?" Mew got serious all of a sudden.

"It's about my mission. The other times, I stayed with the hero until the end of his or her life. We formed a strong bond and helped each other overcome obstacles. But in Touko's case, we didn't form a bond at all. Actually, she's afraid of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. My mission is to support the Hero of Truth. I failed. Firstly because I couldn't gain her trust, also because I couldn't stop Zekrom in time to prevent the Hero of Ideals from being killed. Right now, Touko is devastated because of that. I feel responsible for what happened, and I want to do something to make up for it. I still want to be with her. I want to know her better and support her. I feel that it's my duty to help her recover. So... I was thinking... when you send me back... Maybe you could make me reincarnate as a human again, so I could be there with her..."

"Hmm..." Mew made a mysterious face while thinking. Then, in an authoritative tone, she spoke. "The answer is **no**!"

"Oh... So maybe..."

"Ha ha ha! Actually, I have a better idea!" Mew spoke while laughing at Reshiram's embarrassment. "Ever heard of Soul Link?"

"Uh? ... No."

"Then, listen!" Mew made a serious face and entered "lecture mode". "In the world that Arceus created, basically, beings die for two reasons: or because the time assigned to their life was up, or because there was some unforeseen circumstance and their life ended abruptly, without a closure. When the second case happens, that being's life is considered 'incomplete' and it is given a chance to continue living. Whenever possible, the body occupied previously by that soul is used, but if it's not functional or is too damaged, a new body is needed."

"Hm." Reshiram's soul bobbed into a "nod".

"As you know, all beings get reincarnated, but usually in a different place and a long time after its previous life. Those who are given another chance and can't use the same body as before are also reincarnated, but earlier and somewhere near where it previously lived. However, if it had its life cut short while in the middle of something important, being reincarnated means that its soul will be put into a body yet to be born, and it's necessary to wait until the body grows up to the point that the being can continue from where it left off. As you can see, the process can take much time and isn't suitable for urgent situations."

"So?"

"So, here enters Soul Link!" Mew pumped her small fists in the air dramatically. Soon she was back to her normal, cheerful self. "In the rare occasions that we choose to use Soul Link, an already developed body is created to house the soul of the being who had an 'incomplete' life. In your case, you aren't actually 'dead', but yeah, you get the idea."

"... So, you're saying that you'll use Soul Link to put me in a human body, instead of reincarnating me?"

"Yes, that's exactly it."

"But you said that a body is 'created'. Doesn't it get born?"

"As you can see, Soul Link is another kind of 'exception'. The body is created, usually by Arceus, using some other being's DNA as basis. But as you already know, he's away and can't do it this time. I don't have enough power to do it either..."

"Then, we can't do anything!" Reshiram said in exasperation.

"Ha! Thankfully, there's another way to work around that!"

"Huh? How?"

"By using the Dream World. Maybe you already know this, but when people and pokemon sleep, they can dream about things created from events in their heads, or they can go to the Dream World and dream about original things. When they sleep under the influence of Dream Mist, they're guaranteed to go to the Dream World, and it's possible to make some things from the dream materialize in the real world if the wish is strong enough. So, theoretically, it's possible to use it to materialize a new body."

"And how much is 'strong enough'?"

"For simple and small things like berries, one pokemon's wish is enough. But for more complex things like full grown bodies, we would need at least... Let's see... Like thirty people or so, wishing for the same thing. In your case, they have to wish for something that would materialize a body that you could use."

"Thirty people! ? ... No, wait, you said that it's 'theoretically possible'... Do you mean that... You have never done it this way before! ?"

"Um... Actually, yes. Arceus was always here to do it, so we never needed to do it this way before."

"This is crazy! How can we guarantee that so many people will dream about the same thing at the same time, and that they'll wish for what we need?"

"We... Manipulate their dream."

"What?" If Reshiram's soul had a face, she would be making a indignant expression.

"It's not the most ethical, nor the most efficient way. But It's a workaround, and workarounds aren't usually easy or efficient. It's all that we can do, unless you want to reincarnate and wait, watching helplessly as Touko slowly breaks, until your body grows to the point that you can do something useful. Do you want that?"

Mew could be very cunning when trying to prove a point. Reshiram knew that Mew purposefully said that to hit where it hurt, leaving her with no other option. She didn't want to wait while watching Touko getting worse, but manipulating people's dreams to get what she wanted also didn't sound right.

Mew waited for a response. As none came, she knew that her previous words were super effective. "It's decided then. We'll do it. I'll make some preparations, meanwhile you can go see Zekrom."

"But..."

"Didn't you say that you wanted to see him? Then go!" Mew made a portal appear in front of them. "This portal will take you to Zekrom. Now go, and leave the rest to me!" And she shoved Reshiram's soul into the portal, giving her no chance to argue. "Ah, just remember, do not wake him up!" Were Mew's last words before Reshiram was teleported away.

* * *

After seeing the slumbering Zekrom, Reshiram decided to look for Kyurem. The way that Mew reacted when she asked about him was too suspicious, and it worried her. Without Mew's portals for shortcuts, she had to navigate around the various chambers from memory, hopping that she remembered where Kyurem was.

"I think it was here..." She approached a corridor that she remembered, and was about to turn the corner when Mew appeared from a portal out of nowhere.

"Reshiiiram!"

"Aaah! M-Mew?" Reshiram's soul jumped, startled.

"Everything's ready to go! Come on!"

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Reshiram's soul was shoved into the portal that Mew had just came from.

"Phew, that was close..." Mew said in relief, giving a quick glance at the room at the other side of the corridor, which Reshiram had gotten right and was Kyurem's room. Then she also went back through the portal and closed it behind them when they were at the other side, back at the Entralink.

"... Are you really going to manipulate people's dreams?"

"Yes," Mew said firmly.

"Are you sure that there isn't another way? I don't want to do this. It isn't right!"

"I know that truth is very important to you, but remember that you need to find a balance between truth and ideals. If your ideals involve being there physically to help Touko in a form which she can communicate with you and not be afraid of you, and you want to go there as fast as possible, then this is a very good situation to analyze and come closer to that balance. Oh, it's time. Come on, they're already here."

"... They?"

Mew motioned for Reshiram to follow her. They arrived at the tree at the center, and there were various Musharnas waiting for them.

"These Musharnas are from the physical world. I already told them about the situation. I'll assume my physical form and teleport with them, they'll release the Dream Mist and I'll use Hypnosis on the people."

"... What about me?"

"you have a good night." Without warning, Mew used Hypnosis on her, making Reshiram instantly fall asleep, unable to argue anymore.

* * *

A/n: Dream World, and Entralink! And finally Soul Link, which is this story's title! :D And the Mew mentioned in the summary appeared at last! We're getting there!

In the games, Cheren doesn't have a Ferrothorn. Also, I don't know if all of his pokemon are set to be male or if it's random, but here, Snivy and Unfezant are female. And at least to me, his team trying to guess which type he would be was funny XD. Looks like when trying to find out the type of a pokemon's Hidden Power or something.

In the end, Touko really didn't change her mind, and Cheren will be the one challenging the Champion! Do you think he will win?

Moves:

* The only Mew that knows Teleport and Hypnosis is the one from the game My Pokemon Ranch.


	8. the Long Dream

A/n: I wished I could have updated earlier. My internet is too unstable lately, it got to the point that it was down for nearly two weeks. Yes, almost **two** weeks! Can you imagine that? In this digital age where the trend is to forget about harddiscs & USB sticks and leave everything online, in the clouds, to be accessed anywhere and anytime, suddenly your internet goes down with you on it, making you unable to reach the clouds... And stays down for almost two weeks. Believe it or not, it just happened to me. I don't (directly) use clouds that much, but my job relies extensively on the internet, so that also left me unable to get anything done for days... It fell Saturday (2013/07/13), coming back the next Tuesday afternoon, and three days later (on Friday) it fell again. It came back on mid Tuesday... Only to go down again the next day! Calling the ISP when this started happening, there was an automatic message saying that the problem in my region would be fixed until 20:30 at maximum (with no date), but the day ended and still nothing. Talking to support, we were told that they were having technical problems and we could do nothing but wait. The following day, the message kept saying 20:30. Two more days went like this, seeming they hadn't updated the message to say the new status. Talking to an attendant, she said "If the message states 20:30, then it's 20:30!" Argh! It came back today (2013/07/26), I hope it lasts this time. I'm considering changing ISPs, but from the complaints I heard, I can't tell if the others are any better...

It wasn't just me either, seemingly various parts of the city were also having problems. And I'm not talking about some isolated town in the middle of nowhere, I'm talking about São Paulo, a big and important city. Theoretically, this shouldn't be happening! ... But it is. I didn't want to be saying this, but that's Brazil for you.

Sorry for ranting like this, but this situation is getting frustrating... Well, at least I had more time to write this fan fiction :P.

Despite the title, the chapter is a bit short compared to the last two, but I think it covered everything I wanted. And I'll stop now, or this rambling will become longer than the chapter itself...

* * *

Pokemon Black n' White: Soul Link

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Pocket Monsters/Pokemon, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and I do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 8: the Long Dream

Touko and Bel crossed Victory Road, them took a train at Opelucid City's station. When in Nimbasa, Touko released Hardy (the Crustle) near the desert, which was where she had caught him. She and Bel took another train to Accumula. Touko was so eager to get home that she forgot to stop at Striaton and return Fennel's pillows. A short walk later, they were finally in Nuvema Town.

The neighbors bombarded them with questions about their travels, their pokemon, the other cities, and of course, why Touko wasn't participating in the League if she had all badges. Touko gave the same answer that she had given to her mother before, also not mentioning that aside from getting all badges, she had defeated the Elite Four. She nearly panicked when Bel almost made it slip.

"But Cheren also defeated the Elite Four and will be challenging the Champion!"

"**Also**?" Someone just had to notice that.

"...!" Bel's eyes widened when she noticed what she had just said. She tried to fix her mistake as best as she could. "Ah! I... I meant that he also got all badges... But he stayed there, defeated the Elite Four and will battle the Champion!"

Luckily, the person was satisfied with the clarification.

"Bel..." Touko whispered when there was no one talking to them.

"S-sorry..." Bel whispered back, looking at Touko sheepishly.

* * *

At the end of the day, Touko was exhausted, but once more, she was unable to sleep. She Got up and gazed through the window, trying to distract herself. She thought the starred sky was beautiful, but then a group of stars formed the outline of something that reminded her of Zekrom. She shuddered when the black pokemon's image appeared in her head. To make matters worse, when Zekrom came to her mind, so did N's pure and innocent face. Why did everything she saw had to remind her of the events from that day? Touko sighed and closed the window. She didn't want to think about that. For a long time, her dream had been to travel around the world and meet as many different kinds of pokemon as she could. After finishing her basic education and turning fourteen, she finally got a starter pokemon. Professor Juniper asked her to help gather data for the Pokedex, and she knew it was her chance. But after all that happened, she wanted to have nothing more to do with meeting new pokemon - specially the legendary ones - or the Pokemon League. She only wanted a calm, ordinary life. Maybe it would be best if she stopped pokemon battling and stayed at home, living a normal family life, as if that whole crazy journey had never happened. She forced a weak smile, remembering that her father was coming back the next day. The whole family would live together again, like in her childhood. Her parents, herself, and... She began inventing things, imagining how her life could be if things were a bit different and she had a little sister. She imagined being with a little girl looking like a younger version of herself, playing with Bel and Cheren, like in her childhood. They could have fun together running around Nuvema Town, or maybe visiting other places. Yes, that could be nice. Suddenly, she felt even more tired. Her eyes became heavy and her vision distorted. Everything was strangely foggy and... Pink. Grateful that sleep was finally coming, Touko plopped onto her bed and promptly fell asleep, wishing that she could dream about that happy scenario she had invented, instead of those concrete avalanche nightmares.

Camouflaged by the pink mist, a pink cat like pokemon smiled, proud of the accomplishment. "The first part is complete. Now, the others..."

* * *

X:X:X:X:X

Touko dreamed that she was back to being a nine year old. She was in a hospital's waiting room. Her eyes darted around the room as if she was anxiously waiting for someone or something. Suddenly, her father rushed in through the door.

"Akemi! How's Akemi! ? And what about the baby?"

"Calm down, Mr. White." A nurse walked towards him. "Both your wife and your baby are fine."

"A boy or a girl?" He asked, visibly calmer.

The nurse gave a quick glance at Touko, then looked back at him. "You're the father of one more cute, healthy girl. Congratulations, Mr. Robert White."

He also looked at Touko, and both smiled.

A door opened, through which came another nurse.

"Both of you can enter now." She said, motioning to them.

Touko stood up, and followed her father and the second nurse into the room.

After making sure Mrs. White was really well, hugs and congratulations, they were contemplating the figure of their newest family member.

"Oh, our little daughter..." Robert said with watery eyes.

"Isn't she cute?" Akemi said. "Look, Touko. She looks exactly like you when you were born!"

The baby was laying comfortably in her mother's arms. Touko slowly approached and was about to touch her, but suddenly froze and retracted her hand. For a brief moment, she sensed something from that girl... Some kind of strong presence...

"Touko, what's wrong?" Her father asked.

"... Nothing..."

She decided to try again. Her hands came closer than last time, and she felt nothing unusual. Maybe it was just a figment of her imagination... But she stopped nonetheless. What if the baby didn't like her? What if she cried or reacted negatively to her? Touko's indecision was cut short by small fingers touching her hand. She saw the baby extending a little hand to touch her, and smiled.

* * *

The scene changed to their home. When Touko entered her parents' room, she found her sister on the bed and the adults looking at each other in silence, seemingly in deep concentration.

"Is she asleep?" Touko asked in a low voice.

"No, she's awake," Her mother answered.

"What're you doing?" Touko spoke normally this time.

"Trying to come up with a name for her." Akemi turned to her husband. "Any ideas, Bob?"

"No."

Since before their first baby, they had come up with a few names. If the baby was a Boy, it would be named Touya, if a girl, it would be Touko. It was a girl, and they thought if they had a second one, it could be a boy, but they never thought of the possibility of it being another girl.

"Touko, what do you think?" Akemi asked.

"... Me?"

"Yes," both said in unison.

Touko was taken by surprise and didn't have anything in mind. Nearly half an hour passed with no one saying anything. Surprisingly, the baby was awake during all the time and didn't even cry.

"I think I have an idea for a name," Touko said, and suddenly all eyes were on her. Even the baby seemed to look at her expectantly. "... What about Makoto? It means 'truth'."

"Makoto... It's a great name!" Akemi said. "What do you think, Bob?"

"I agree." The father answered.

"Alright!" Akemi looked at the baby. "Makoto, Makoto..." She repeated the name, as if to get the baby used to its sound. "Your sister chose this name for you. Do you like it?"

Acting as if she understood what was being said, the baby looked in Touko's direction and gave a very wide smile.

Satisfied, Akemi announced. "Then, it's settled. From now on, your name is Makoto."

* * *

On the following day, the neighbors were gathered in the White family's house.

"Hello Mrs. Blanco." Touko greeted. "Where's Bel? She told me she would drop by. I thought she was coming with you."

"Yes, she was, but at the last minute, she said that she would call Cheren and hurried to his house."

"Okay, so let's wait."

They waited, but Bel was Bel. Twenty minutes later, still nothing.

"I'll see what's happening." Touko opened the door and left.

Touko arrived at Cheren's house. No one else was outside. Since Bel said that she would go there, Touko decided to enter and, if anyone was inside, ask if Bel had showed up. The three were friends and could almost always enter each other's houses freely, so she simply entered.

"Hello, is anyone home?"

She passed through the living room and the kitchen. No one was there. Touko was about to knock on the door of Cheren's room, when she noticed it half open and heard voices coming from inside.

"Come on, Cheren!" It was Bel. She was behind the desk, standing beside Cheren who was seated and reading a book.

"I'm busy. I'm studying."

"You already studied too much!"

"Why the hurry? I'll meet her eventually. Why does it have to be now?"

"Come on, just for a minute or two..."

Touko finally decided to knock.

"I'll get it!" Hearing the knock, Bel dashed towards the door, bumping into the desk and knocking away many of Cheren's books in the process.

"Aaaaah! Bel Blanco...!" Cheren glared daggers at her, but her attention was no longer on him. He sighed and started retrieving the books.

"Hey Touko!" Bel greeted after fully opening the door. "Sorry for being late!" Then she walked back towards Cheren. "See? We're so late that Touko came here to get us!"So, let's go!"

The boy would protest, but without a warning, Bel grabbed him by the arm and dragged him outside the room.

"Aaaah! But..." Cheren desperately looked at the mess of books still scattered on the floor behind them.

"The others are waiting, Cheren." Bel said in the same tone, the same thing he usually said to her when she made them be late.

Resigned, he just sighed making an annoyed expression, and let himself be dragged.

Touko smiled. Those two's interactions were always fun to watch.

* * *

They walked to Touko's home in silence. Once there, Cheren was finally released. He followed Touko into the house, sighing as Bel ran inside as though she owned the place.

"Hey everyone!" Bel greeted cheerfully.

"Shhhh..." One of the neighbors hushered.

However, she paid no mind. "I know that we're late, but this time it isn't my fault!"

"Of course it is!" Cheren came behind her. "You could have come alone. I would visit later!"

"You didn't say that!"

"Both of you, please stop," Robert said, giving an exasperated look at the baby sleeping in Akemi's arms. "This way you're going to..."

Too late. The little girl awoke with a start, and began crying.

"Oh, Makoto, don't cry. It's okay..." Akemi said in a soothing voice... And that was enough. Surprisingly, Makoto was very calm and didn't cry much. Akemi took her closer to the kids that had just arrived. "Don't be scared. They won't do anything bad. They're our friends."

"Hello Makoto!" Bel came closer, greeting cheerfully (and loudly) once more.

Everyone thought the baby would get scared and cry again, but nothing happened.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Bel," She said pointing to herself, then grabbed the boy from behind her once again, dragging him closer to them. "and this is Cheren."

Makoto looked at the girl first, then looked at the boy.

Their eyes met. For a split second, Cheren felt something strange and averted his gaze. It was like some kind of strong aura. His first impulse was to take a step back, but Bel clutched his arm tighter.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Bel whispered in his hear. "Aren't you going to greet her?"

He breathed deeply and looked at Makoto again. The strong presence wasn't as intense as before, but it was there. Besides that, there was something else about her that disturbed him. Maybe it was the fact that she could get all that attention from everyone without needing to do anything. He didn't remember ever getting that much attention like her.

"... Hello," he simply said.

"Now, that's a bit better." Bel grinned at him.

Noticing that he was being made fun of, Cheren gave an annoyed expression. That widened Bel's grin and, unexpectedly, elicited a chuckle from Makoto.

"What?" He turned his attention back to the baby. "Even you...?"

"I think she likes you," Bel said, giving a sweet smile.

"I'm not so sure..." He spoke almost in a whisper.

"Huh? I didn't hear it. What did you say?"

"... Nothing." For some reason, he was sure that Bel and Makoto together would only bring him problems...

* * *

Reshiram slowly opened her eyes. She was no longer a big dragon pokemon. Now she was a human, and her name was Makoto.

"What about Makoto? It means 'truth'."

She smiled, remembering that Touko was the one to name her. The girl seemed to be a bit younger than the Touko she knew, which didn't make much sense, but she was happy that Touko considered truth to be something so important as to want it passed on to her "little sister". She tried to remember what happened next. She was introduced to the townspeople, including Touko's childhood friends Bel and Cheren... But after that, things were very hazy. She stretched, then ran a hand through her hair, trying to remember anything else. Her thoughts were much clearer than before, but Nothing came up. She gave up and tried to analyze her current situation.

She sat on the mattress that she was on. Apparently, they didn't have a crib, and were using a normal mattress surrounded with some tall boxes to prevent her from falling or wandering off. Her body responded much better than the other times she had opened her eyes. She ran her tongue through her teeth, which were still very small. Her body seemed to be one year old, maybe some months more. It was strange. Many of the things that she was experiencing, like being born and growing up, also happened at other occasions when she reincarnated as a human, but this time, things were happening too fast. She had lost track of time, but she was sure it should have taken longer. Her body was growing up too fast. No conclusions came, so she put the thought aside and decided to test a few more things. She tried to stand, putting her hands on a pillow for support.

"Aaaagh!" She gasped as the pillow unexplainably swept under her and floated out of her reach, the sudden movement making her fall on her face.

"Aha ha ha! Hello Reshiram! Or should I say Makoto?"

From her position, she turned on her back and looked at the direction of the voice. "Me... Mew?"

"Oh! You're surely cute in this form, aren't you?" Mew floated above her, sizing her up and down. "Okay, first, let me clarify a few things. I don't know if you're aware of it, but this is a dream."

"You have a good night." She remembered Mew's last words before she had blacked out.

"Oh." Of course. She had been hypnotized. Everything that happened afterwards was a dream. How didn't she notice that before?

"Yes, you're dreaming. As are Touko, her parents, her friends, the whole Nuvema Town, as well as all the others that need to believe in the existence of Touko's sister. This dream is so long and so complex that they won't know it was a dream at all. They'll think that what they experienced here is part of their memories. Everyone will believe that Touko has a little sister called Makoto. This belief will be so strong that it'll be possible to materialize a body for you. When they wake up, you'll be there, and they'll act as if you always were."

Reshiram didn't know what to think. That was what Mew had meant by "manipulating people's dreams". It was so weird and confusing...

"I wanted to 'fast forward' a bit more, but you should get used to your new body first. Better to do most of the 'testing' while you're little, as basic mistakes are more acceptable in this stage."

"... Hm." Makoto nodded.

"Great, huh? I'm even giving you time to adjust! I'm generous, aren't I?"

"Y-you'we evil."

"Oh." Mew made a sad face. "Now, you offended me. Take this!"

Makoto barely had time to roll away before the pillow stopped floating and fell exactly where she had been. When she looked up again, Mew was gone.

A few seconds later, the door to the room opened.

"Good morning Makoto, did you sleep well?"

It was Touko's... No, now that was also **her** mother. She decided to risk speaking. "... Mom?"

"...!" Akemi was taken completely by surprise. "M-Makoto, you... You spoke! Please, say it again, please..." The woman asked desperately, as though she wanted to confirm that she wasn't imagining things.

"Mom," the little girl repeated, more firmly this time.

"Ah!" Akemi squealed and her eyes lit up in joy. "Oh Arceus!"

_He's on vacation._ As fun as it would be to have said that, Makoto decided to keep it only as a thought. Akemi wouldn't understand the joke anyway.

"... Alright, time for your breakfast. Come on." Akemi said after the morning routine. She took the girl in her arms and left the room.

It was the first time that Makoto could see clearly the details of the house... Which in that dream, was supposed to be her home. Her eyes stopped on a picture of Touko that was on a small table, and Akemi noticed.

"Yes, that's a picture of your sister. Touko. Can you say 'Touko'?"

"..." She hesitated for a moment. "Tou... Ko..."

"Oh!" Akemi was all enthusiastic again. "I can't wait for Touko to come back from school, and bob to come back from work... And also the neighbors, and the kids..."

Makoto wanted to give a deep sigh. She was sure that she would spend the whole day repeating people's names. _Mew, help me,_ she thought.

The day passed as she had imagined, and the pink cat pokemon didn't spare her from that torture. It was only at the end of the day that Mew appeared again, when no one was around.

"Hello Makoto, how was your day?"

"Ah..." The girl sighed. "I d-don't take back... What I said. You'we evil."

* * *

There were a few more days for her to test her movements and speech. Then, it "fast forwarded", and various events passed quickly. She experienced running around the house, having her parents tell stories at night, and playing with Touko and Bel (and Cheren, who was frequently dragged by Bel). There was her two year birthday party to which the whole Nuvema Town was invited, then, at some point in that year, she overheard some conversations and found out that she would have to move to Castelia City. "Her" father had gotten a new job in the big city, where there was also a very renowned preschool, and "her" parents intended to enroll her there. According to them, the children in town where much older than her and she needed to interact more with people of the same age as her. She wished that she could stay a bit more with Touko, but things didn't go as she had thought. She moved with Robert to Castelia, leaving Touko and Akemi in Nuvema. Hazy "memories" of the preschool followed. She playing with some other children, being taught a few things (most of which were basic and she already knew), and in her "free time", playing the piano that they had in a room in the building.

The months went by. In the rare occasions when Robert had days off, he would take her to see the family. Touko and Akemi also called and visited from time to time (calls were much more frequent than visits). The last time they visited, they even brought Bel and Cheren with them. Another year and a few months went by, marking three years since she had arrived. Makoto was supposedly five years old, and she got to the point where she was (re)learning how to read, because the writing system that she knew from some lives ago was already very outdated. And suddenly, the store where Robert was working closed down. He got a new job in Accumula Town, which was nearer to "their" real home, and she would finally move back to Nuvema.

"Hmm," Mew hummed approvingly. "this turned out better than I had expected! It was possible to materialize a 'five year old' looking body for you. It's exactly like how you look now. It has the DNA of Touko's parents, so any DNA test will prove that you're their daughter. I was even able to place some pictures of you in your home, and put some clothes, documents and a few other things in a bag exactly like that one." She pointed to a travel bag sitting in a corner of Makoto's current room.

"Even documents? That's great."

"See, I'm so generous, aren't I?"

"This again?" The girl looked like she would snap, but her expression quickly softened and she smiled. "Thank you, Mew."

"You're welcome."

"Makoto!" It was "her" father calling from the living room. "It's getting late! Time to go to sleep! We're leaving tomorrow, and we need to wake up early! ... ... Makoto? Are you listening?"

"Yes... Yeah!" Sometimes it was hard to remember that she needed to tone down her language a little. She left her room and went to where he was.

"So, I'm going to bed." He hugged her lightly. "Good night, Makoto."

"Good night, Dad."

Makoto went back to her room and found Mew giggling.

"Hee hee hee hee! That was cute! Anyway, you heard him. Now, you're going to 'sleep'. The next time that you wake up, it'll be in the physical world and you'll be where you need to be. So, that's it. Good luck, Reshiram."

"Thank you."

She laid on the bed, closed her eyes, and when she thought she was about to sleep, her dream ended.

X:X:X:X:X

* * *

A/n: here's some more craziness. I had "Makoto" planned since the beginning, although It took me a long time to come up with a way to insert her where she needed to be. I thought about reincarnating Reshiram, but it would take too long for her to grow up. Then, one day I had inspiration and finally settled on using the Dream World. It already materializes things to begin with, so if there was a way to make all the important characters have the same dream, everyone would believe in her existence and it would be perfect. It's crazy but kind of makes sense :P. I'm quite satisfied with how it came out, mainly because this way I managed to avoid a five year timeskip (I couldn't leave Touko in near depression for five years...). Now, the story summary finally makes sense, doesn't it? And as you may have guessed, N will come back in a process a long these lines too.

In the games, there's the subway map showing where the train passes, but the only train station (or at least the only one we can enter) is the Battle Subway in Nimbasa, and the only other city we can get a train to is Anville Town. Also, the only preschool is in Route 3, but Castelia City is so big that it should have one. In this story, even the small Nuvema Town has a school, where Touko, Bel and Cheren studied. Speaking of those two, I'll say this once more. Bel and Cheren scenes are so fun to write!

Names:

* Akemi (the name I gave to Touko's mother): a Japanese name. from "ake" ("明") "bright", and "mi" ("美") "beautiful".

* Makoto (Japanese, "実"). It can be used both as a masculine and a feminine name, and as said before in the story, it means "truth". It can also mean "sincerity", "honesty", "fidelity". In my opinion, a good name for a Reshiram... Or at least, for this Reshiram :P.


End file.
